 Upon its release, Lightning Bolt was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 73, based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, stating that the band seemed more settled and comfortable while "accentuating the big riffs and bigger emotions, crafting songs without a worry as to whether they 're hip or not and, most importantly, enjoying the deep-rooted, nervy arena rock that is uniquely their own." Jim Farber of the New York Daily News gave the album four out of five stars, commenting that while "some key sounds and sensibilities" and uplifting lyrics were unlike Pearl Jam's earlier style, the music in Lightning Bolt marked a return to the "thick-bottomed rhythms, hard-nosed guitars and darkened tone of classic Pearl Jam" compared to predecessor Backspacer. Cole Waterman of PopMatters gave the album an eight out of ten, praising "Pearl Jam thriving in their persona, building on what worked in the past without trying to copy it while adding new elements to the mix" and feeling that despite "the closing songs get [ting] monotonous in their united balladry", " Future Days ” was a good album closer, comparing it to Tom Waits.
