Music is important to me. I don’t think that’s a secret to anyone that actually knows me.
Something else that I’ve managed to make everyone close to me annoyingly aware of, is that Twenty One Pilots is my favourite band. It’s like a running joke in my entire life.
I have four tattoos for the band and the music they’ve created. I own way too much of their merchandise, I literally have three copies of the same album. I’ve driven through snow storms to see them in Montana and I’ve gone 60 hours with nearly no sleep to see them in Washington. Anyone I know in real life thinks I’m more than a little insane.
Over the past year I’ve really made an honest effort to diversify my music taste, and I like to think I’ve done an okay job of it. I found The Front Bottoms, LANY, Jet Black Alley Cat, Lewis Capaldi and a ton of other sick bands.
Then Twenty One Pilots came back from a year-long break and I’m back to where I was a year ago. Whoops.
Their new album Trench came out today, but it leaked a couple days ago so I’ve already listened to it obsessively.
It is so good. So unbelievably good. For so many reasons. (I might be biased but whatever).
They dropped four singles before the album was released, there was Jumpsuit, Nico and the Niners and Levitate, each of which has their own music video that builds a little universe of Dema. This is really cool, and it’s the first time the band has gone down a “concept album” route.
They did create a character and a bit of storyline in their 2015 release, Blurryface, but Dema and the story behind it goes beyond that. It’s really interesting, but also way too complicated to get into on here.
My Blood was the last single dropped before the album and it is a really sweet disco-esque track. I really dig it as a driving song, and it’s like an ode to the frontman, Tyler Joseph’s family.
The rest of the tracks on the album absolutely have blown my mind. Smithereens is the most adorable song written for Tyler’s wife, Jenna. Legend is a very upbeat, happy sounding track, until you listen to the lyrics and realize it’s about his late grandfather. The Hype, reminds me of Oasis, or The Killers.
The song that really strikes a chord with me though, is a song called Neon Gravestones. It’s like slam poetry with a beat behind it. The song talks about how society today glorifies and romanticizes suicide. “My opinion, our culture can treat a loss like it’s a win,” in the song he also goes on to say that if he were to take that route his band’s streams and reputation would grow. Which is sad and true. Tyler also mentions how some can use suicide as a form of aggression, or revenge. I think lyrically, this is one of the most important songs on the albums.
I think Trench is one of the best albums this band has ever released. I know every song they’ve put out since they were recording in a basement. The topics covered on this album are a lot deeper, and harder hitting than their last release.
I didn’t think they could beat their 2011 album, Vessel, but Trench hasn’t even been out for 24 hours yet and I’m already sure that I’m wrong.
I can’t wait to see these guys live again. I’ll be driving down to Boise, Idaho for the show on Nov. 17. (37 days!)
