It's strange to think Pearl Jam was once herded under the grunge umbrella alongside pathos-spewing acts like Nirvana and Alice in Chains. The Seattle group's eighth album (give or take the 72 bootleg-style double CDs they released in 2001) has more in common with classic rock institutions like Crazy Horse and the Band than the snarling forces that were trying to tear away at their legacies. Appropriately, Riot Act is built on thematic pillars--love, death, politics--and fueled by dense, uncompromising power chords.
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