The rock icons and grunge forefathers of Pearl Jam release their new album "Dark Matter". It is the twelfth studio album from the Seattle band and their first since the critically acclaimed chart-topper "Gigaton", which reached number 3 in the German charts in 2020.

While Pearl Jam invested a lot of time in song concepts and meticulous preparation back then, "Dark Matter" benefits from a fresh, more direct approach. In early 2023, the band retreated to Rick Rubin's Shangri-La Studios for three weeks to simply start playing under the supervision of producer Andrew Watt (Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, Miley Cyrus). In a recent interview with Classic Rock magazine, guitarist Mike McCready said "Andrew Watt really kicked our asses, we were focused and played song after song. It took a long time to make 'Gigaton', but this new album didn't take long. Andrew said, 'You guys take forever to make records. Let's do this now, right now'."

You can hear the sparked energy in "Dark Matter". The songs channel the shared spirit of a group of lifelong creative confidants and brothers playing in a room as if their lives were at stake. The title track, which was released as the first single, provides a perfect impression of what this sounds like.

The song also underlines what singer Eddie Vedder said on stage at a concert in Austin in the summer of 2023: "We've made a record for next year. And I can tell you, if you like the musicians in this group, you're going to hear them play at their highest level."