Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Kerrang!Oct 24, 2013It's fast, It's slow, It's mature, without being boring; it rocks, even when it's doesn't. It's also one of the best albums of 2013, if not the best. [12 Oct 2013, p.50]
-
Oct 15, 2013The album still feels fresher and more relevant than the world at large might expect at this point--this classic-rock band still has at least a few classics left in it.
-
Oct 8, 2013[A] muscular and tender 10th album.
-
Oct 14, 2013What comes across is the teamwork of musicians who have been working in tandem for decades. They’re grown-ups with fewer demons and more polish, but they’re still pushing themselves.
-
Oct 14, 2013Pearl Jam’s not just still alive, it’s kicki
-
Oct 14, 2013Years on, Lightning Bolt is sure to rank among one of the high points of the group’s discography, standing as an example of their ability to burrow down and hone all of their strengths to a fever pitch.
-
Oct 14, 2013On Lightning Bolt, they've grown into that classic rock mantle, accentuating the big riffs and bigger emotions, crafting songs without a worry as to whether they're hip or not and, most importantly, enjoying the deep-rooted, nervy arena rock that is uniquely their own.
-
Q MagazineOct 8, 2013The way they shift from the blues-y swagger of Let The Record Play to the percussive march of Pendulum and the R.E.M.-evoking country twang of Yellow Moon is a sure sign that they belong in the lineage of great American rock bands. [Nov 2013, p.108]
-
Oct 8, 2013The softer tracks find the group negotiating their path to maturity with confidence.
-
Nov 21, 2013While the backside wavers, the band has never sounded better or more self-assured, but its ambition suggests they've outgrown simple song collections.
-
Under The RadarDec 4, 2013Lightning Bolt finds Pearl Jam sounding more comfortable in its collective skin and with its collective influences than perhaps even before. [Nov-Dec 2013, p.92]
-
Oct 21, 2013For a group of guys who are now 22 years on from their debut album and 15 years past their prime as one of the biggest and most important groups in rock ‘n’ roll, Lightning Bolt is a strikingly stellar set of songs that belies the band’s democratic nature.
-
Oct 14, 2013Three brisk, blood-pumping rockers pick up where the band's previous album, "Backspacer," left off.... Things falter when the band's love of '70s classic rock turns musty.... Inspiration returns on the title track, which rides Matt Cameron's roller-coaster drumming and richly layered guitars and keyboards.
-
Oct 28, 2013While Lightning Bolt may fall somewhat shy of that goal ["the Best Album"], it is a more than solid effort to satisfy the legions of fanboys born between ’77 and ’84, and a convincing argument for their continued existence.
-
Classic Rock MagazineOct 25, 2013Lightning Bolt could do with a bit more of that hot-wired sound. But its brutally hard-won optimism is satisfying enough. [Nov 2013, p.88]
-
Oct 15, 2013Lightning Bolt is the sound of anger and brooding depression. In Pearl Jam terms, this is reason to be happy.
-
Oct 14, 2013There's enough flat-out enjoyable tunes on Lightning Bolt to set aside the past, at least temporarily.
-
Oct 9, 2013This set is teeming with energy despite its down moments, and demands to be played again in its entirety as soon as it ends.
-
UncutOct 8, 2013As powerfully new wavey as 2009's Backspacer at the start but also a testament to the band's more oddball meandering elsewhere, the commitment of Eddie Vedder's delivery brings a veracity even to some of the more ponderous ballads that can be the band's mature years default position. [Nov 2013, p.76]
-
Oct 8, 2013There’s no inherently bad songwriting here, but most of it isn’t particularly interesting, either. This ultimately becomes the chief complaint here.
-
MagnetDec 18, 2013Lightning Bolt is only more competent than Foo Fighters, Vedder and Co.'s rival for the planet's straightest rock band. [No. 105, p.57]
-
Oct 24, 2013Mike McCready’s guitar solos mostly take a backseat to the band’s meaty rhythm section, and, sure, some of the 12 tracks are victims of awkward construction. But Lightning Bolt resonates, especially the band’s jarring (if kind of clichéd) conclusions.
-
Oct 14, 2013For the most part it’s a good record. The first two thirds are much stronger than that last third.... On its own merit, it’s a solid three stars.... The first couple of tracks had me firmly in its corner, but then the album took a complete nosedive on the back half. [Three reviewers in one]
-
Oct 14, 2013Not classic Pearl Jam by any stretch - let’s not get carried away here--but enough to kindle at least a little optimism for whatever comes next.
-
Oct 14, 2013Years removed from the raw emotion and desperate appetites of youth, Pearl Jam has slipped into alt-rock elder statesmanship as one would a comfortable old sweater. And as Lightning Bolt mostly attests, it's a decent look for them.
-
Oct 14, 2013It's far from an implosion, far from spectacular.
-
Oct 14, 2013Pearl Jam's 10th album might offer little in the way of surprises.
-
Oct 11, 2013An intriguing mix overall and further proof that Pearl Jam play by their own rules--a fact that real fans would never want to change.
-
Oct 10, 2013A few ponderous moments aside, this is a sturdy return to great form.
-
Oct 15, 2013Lightning Bolt begins with a spirited sprint before sputtering out and winding up in dullsville.
-
Dec 19, 2013The problem is that Pearl Jam at this point is just repeating itself--or others.
-
Oct 15, 2013Essentially, the cruise control is running onward with disregard for all the maintenance and repairs that an engine needs, and the result is the worst album of their career.
-
Oct 14, 2013There’s something very ‘mopey American teenager’ about Lightning Bolt.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 92 out of 115
-
Mixed: 18 out of 115
-
Negative: 5 out of 115
-
Oct 15, 2013
-
Oct 15, 2013
-
Oct 15, 2013