performance reviews are regimented checks that often completely fail to provide the needed feedback, because no one wants to appear to be doing a bad job when it comes time to talk salary.
There are enough companies decoupling performance and salary reviews (e.g. 6mos apart) that there are already well-established techniques for dealing with the problem you mention. Beyond that, my experience is that companies bad at communicating by means of performance reviews (i.e. they're late/irregular, or not substantive, or tied to salary) are bad at communicating in general, and inquiring about performance reviews can be seen as a leading indicator in an interview about how communicative about important stuff they are in general. Don't mistake loud offices/people with opinions about the business to be the same as managerial communication.
There are enough companies decoupling performance and salary reviews (e.g. 6mos apart) that there are already well-established techniques for dealing with the problem you mention. Beyond that, my experience is that companies bad at communicating by means of performance reviews (i.e. they're late/irregular, or not substantive, or tied to salary) are bad at communicating in general, and inquiring about performance reviews can be seen as a leading indicator in an interview about how communicative about important stuff they are in general. Don't mistake loud offices/people with opinions about the business to be the same as managerial communication.