“Wartime, for everything else that’s wrong with it, brings out the best in Pearl Jam: the power-chord brawn, contrary righteousness and metallic-KO songwriting sense. The band’s second and third albums, 1993’s bluntly titled Vs. and 1994’s Vitalogy, are as good as modern rock-in-opposition gets: shotgun guitars, incendiary bass and drums, and Eddie Vedder’s scalded-dog howl, […]”
“Seattle veterans make their J Records debut with this eponymous, monolithic return to straightforward rock.”