 A number of critics cited the album as a return to the band 's roots . Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said , " Nearly 15 years after Ten , Pearl Jam finally returned to the strengths of their debut with 2006 's Pearl Jam , a sharply focused set of impassioned hard rock . " Vedder said , " It 's easily the best stuff we 've done but also some of the hardest stuff . It 's very aggressive , because again , it 's kind of a product of what it 's like to be an American these days . It 's pretty aggressive , especially when you turn it loud . " Gossard added that after many experimental albums , Pearl Jam was " like a coming together again in terms of accepting our natural strengths and also incorporating the best of our experiments " . 
