The song lyrics are mostly told from the point of view of characters and deal with the socio-political issues in the United States at the period, such as the War on Terror.

Pearl Jam was critically well received and a commercial success, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 chart and eventually outselling the band's previous release, Riot Act.

Vedder described as a process that demands "the patience of like a National Geographic photographer sitting underneath the bush in a tent", adding he would at times "figure out after eight, nine or eleven drafts that the first one was actually the one".

[6] Outtakes include "The Forest", later featured on Ament's 2008 solo album Tone,[15] and "Of the Earth", which started being played live in 2010.

[6][16] Pearl Jam's contract with Epic Records had ended in 2003, but the band was not ready to release an album without label backing.

[9] Gossard added the label did not input any time or creative constraints upon the band—"We didn't play them much music until it was basically done, and they were pleased.

"[7] 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".

It's like we took our aggressions and shaped something positive from them in a very direct manner" Current socio-political issues in the United States are addressed on the album, with Vedder claiming the record "deals with real content and the moral issues of our time", and crediting as inspiration both the frustration with George W. Bush being reelected,[20] and the birth of Vedder's daughter—"Now that I see it as my daughter's planet, I'm even more (angry).

"[4] McCready said, "We all feel that we're living in tumultuous, frightening times, and that ranges from the Iraq war to Hurricane Katrina to wiretapping to anything that smacks of totalitarianism.

Other themes addressed on the album include LSD use ("Severed Hand"),[21] religion ("Marker in the Sand"), poverty ("Unemployable"), leaving everything behind to seek a fresh start ("Gone"),[21] and loneliness ("Come Back").

"[22] Vedder added that using characters in the tracks helped with the themes, as the stories could "transmit an emotion or a feeling or an observation of modern reality rather than editorializing, which we've seen plenty of these days".

"[12] The album's cover art, photographed by Brad Klausen, depicts an avocado cut in half with the pit still in place.

[27] The liner notes art features footage from the "Life Wasted" music video, directed by artist Fernando Apodaca.

"[7] Copies of the album were made available for pre-order through Pearl Jam's official website with different CD art and packaging than the retail version, and also a bonus disk featuring the band's show on December 31, 1992 at The Academy Theater in New York City.

[18][30] Pre-order campaigns were also set with iTunes, Amazon and Best Buy, each retailer receiving an exclusive behind-the-scenes or rehearsal clip shot by photographer Danny Clinch.

[19] The Sony BMG merger led to some problems in the international distribution, something the band took into consideration during the release of the self-published Backspacer three years later.

"[23] The band also decided to shoot their first conceptual music videos in eight years, "World Wide Suicide" and "Life Wasted".

The lead single "World Wide Suicide" was made available through online music stores (backed with "Unemployable"),[18] and also issued for free download on the band's website.

In an interview in advance of the band's return to the festival circuit, Gossard commented, "It seems like an era to trust that we're aware enough to get through those bigger shows.

He commented during the Leeds set that the band's decision to play a festival for the first time after Roskilde had nothing to do with "guts" but with trust in the audience.

[58] Rolling Stone staff writer David Fricke gave Pearl Jam four out of five stars, calling it the band's best album in ten years.

"[54] Erlewine gave the album four and a half out of five stars, saying that "Pearl Jam has embraced everything they do well, whether it's their classicist hard rock or heart-on-sleeve humanitarianism.

"[1] Chris Willman of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+, saying that Vedder's "passionate howl seems more valuable now, pitted against the navel-gazing emo whine that's commandeered the landscape," and he went on to say that "in a world full of boys sent to do a man's job of rocking, Pearl Jam can still pull off gravitas.

"[51] PopMatters writer Michael Metivier gave the album a 9/10 rating and viewed it as a progression in "melody and songcraft" over the band's previous work, writing that it "more consistently achieves the grandeur, rage, and beauty they've always pursued, throughout its entirety".

He said that "rather than rage against the time machine, they seem to be having fun ... Pearl Jam are taking themselves less seriously, and it fits them like a snug flannel shirt.

In the review he stated that Vedder "musters absolute conviction in writing and singing lyrics of male teenage angst."

Snow observed, "And though few of these 13 numbers have the drama of tracks by the Who or Led Zeppelin, from whom the band draw much of their style, Pearl Jam play like men on a mission.