Vs.

What a phenomenal album. When I first listened to Ten, I thought it was pretty great stuff, but not something I'd return to. I was hoping to find a new experience with Pearl Jam, an album I'd be urged to come back to, and Vs. is just that. This is easily one of my favourite Grunge albums after a few listens. While I sort of expected more of the same from the debut, this was not that. It amplified the heavy Grunge tones that worked well on the first album, and provided a lot more versatility. Vs. is far from one note, slowing down on songs like "Daughter", "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter In a Small Town" and "Indifference".

Eddie and the gang get consistently very expressive on this album. Vs. is very much an album about life, it's struggles, what those struggles provoke, and the process of dealing with them. It's through these various moments of reflection that we see a significantly wider array of musical flavours then on Ten. Whether it be the previously mentioned less agressive cuts or the bloodthirsty "Go", "Animal", and "Blood". "W.M.A" is one of my favourites as well, and maybe the most unique cut here. On the entire album, Dave Abbruzzese's work on the kit is absolutely amazing, and it shines on this song for its uniqueness and change of pace. It's just one building block to this song that ultimately allows it to transcend Pearl Jam expectations.

There's so much to love about this album. What I disliked about vedder's vocals on the debut are mostly all gone, the drumwork, riffs, topic choices, energy, everything is just top notch here. You get your bread and butter hard-hitting Pearl Jam sound but plenty of other material that scratches many itches with its more experimental, folky, and classic rock roots. I've wanted to listen to this one for a while, and to my bliss, it exceeded expectations. What an experience.