Pearl Jam's got nothing left to prove, no need to stretch to reach the unconverted - if all they do is put out perfectly-ok albums like this every 3 or 4 years they'll still sell out arenas around the world.
So they do what they want. Which means there's nothing new to see here - you could shuffle these songs with Backspacer and the self-titled and end up with 3 reasonably cohesive, totally fine albums.
There's a tonal shift, Pearl Jam sounds like they've burned off most of their anger and are reaching for uplift, sounding more like My Morning Jacket than ever. And that's enjoyable enough. But Vitalogy's my favorite Pearl Jam album; I like them when they reach and get weird, and I can't help but wish they'd take one more swing at it.
But no, they've got their groove (rut?) and its good enough and they're gonna ride it all night long 3/5
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