It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Twenty One Pilots are one of the biggest bands on the planet. I’d say it’s been that way since they released Vessel in 2013, although maybe that’s because I found them during that album cycle. Either way, I’m unironically and unapologetically obsessed with them.
I was just as excited as everyone when I saw their social media go dark. A little sad, sure, because Blurryface was such a good album and really marked when the band gained the most acclaim. 2015 was a great year for Twenty One Pilots.
You can buy or stream Trench on Apple Music.
So, let’s get into Trench. As themed as everything had seemed leading up to the album’s release, there are only a couple of instances where the concept of Trench as a physical place and the bishops we saw in the “Jumpsuit” video are brought to life. To me, Trench seems to be the new incarnation of Blurryface from the last album.
Per the usual, the band continues to create new standards for how good an album’s production can and should be. I think that what makes Twenty One Pilots who they are isn’t the band as a concept. It’s the members. The band’s incarnation, in a sense, changes with each album. What is always consistent, though, is how Tyler and Josh treat the art they’ve created — with reverence and ingenuity. They’re obsessed with moving higher and higher up the creativity ladder and it’s paying off. My favorite example of this on Trench is “Pet Cheetah”.
There’s only one pitfall to this album for me: they built it up as having a continuous storyline and created a narrative that, when listening to the album as a whole, doesn’t really come out for me. It worked for the singles they released, but it does kind of jump around a little bit. To be fair, perhaps I just haven’t spent enough time with it — it isn’t even a week old — but it seems a little rollercoaster-y.
I’m not going to get into favorite tracks here because there are 14 total songs on the album and they’re all good in their own way. TOP has found a formula with how their albums are laid out and this one is no different. There are tracks that are significant changes of theme in their discography here, though. Somehow, they’ve become bolder — how they talk about mental illness in “Neon Gravestones” and how Tyler addresses faith in the final track “Leave the City”.
I do want to touch on “Legend”. Written for Joseph’s deceased grandfather, this song is intensely meaningful in a way the band has never touched on. We see vulnerability about mental health and other personal issues everywhere in music, but nothing could compare to how I felt when I heard the last couple of lines: “Then the day that it happened / I recorded this last bit / I look forward to having / A lunch with you again”.
I’ve touched on the loss of my own grandmother in other contributions for the site but nothing really hit so close to home as this line when it comes to bringing back that feeling. I get it.
I’m sure they wouldn’t want to admit this, but fame has changed Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. They have a different attitude with this album cycle than the last. It’s not necessarily a negative change, but it’s still evident. They’re more protective over the thing they’ve created — and I think they have every right to do so.
By now I’m sure you’ve guessed that I really like Trench. It’s continuously original and interesting, and they’ve brought up new views to the topics they’ve proven to be passionate about in their past offerings. Trench is a masterpiece. They (again) topped an album that didn’t seem top-able. Take some time to digest this album; I think there’s a lot we can glean from it.
4.5/5
by Nadia Paiva
Nadia Paiva has been a music enthusiast since she can remember. Going to shows is her main pastime. The other is being upset when she can’t go to shows. This is her first official venture into writing about music. You can follow her on Twitter.
