Trench
by Twenty One Pilots

From ExTeaSea 06/06/2023 18:51 | #297420

Seems like they listened to some alt-J while recording this haha. Totally dig this more than Blurryface.

Brilliant storytelling. Best tracks by top, easily. Mutemath influence a smart one. Poppy, electro vibes.

Far and away their best project

From teague 07/16/2020 03:16 | #255653 | TOP COMMENT

Trench is Twenty One Pilots best yet, no question about it. The production is very smooth, but manages to be a lot more expressive than their previous efforts. The drums are punchy and the vocals aren't sitting way on top like they are on Vessel and Blurryface. There's not really a weak track on here either, though I must admit, I zoned out on Neon Gravestones. I never really totally lost interest with this thing though. This is definitely the Twenty One Pilots album I will come back to the most, it's really enjoyable.

My favorite album

Yes... the band that "Stressed 'me' Out" before with that single (Ba dum tss*) made a very solid album.

Good god yes.

This one got me into Twenty One Pilots. It's not that I didn't like their other stuff (Blurryface and Vessel are pretty solid), but it was just a little ... I don't know .. as if they had too much ideas and created a big mess, while trying to sound "big". Does that make sense? I don't know.

Trench is different. It sounds smooth and consistent. And while you get hooked more and more with every listen, you realise, what an amazing story they put together here. After Blurryface they could have stayed in the pop lane and secure their mainstream success, while getting Imagine Dragon-ized. But they didn't. They chose to evolve and create something meaningful. I have massive respect for that.

I like pretty much every thing, but I want to highlight two moments, that capture the greatness of Trench the most: 1) the transition between Jumpsuit (the most rock we get here) and the rap-song Levitate feels ridiculously natural. 2) The moment, when the depressing honesty of Neon Gravestones is followed by the pure optimism of The Hype.

I never disbelieved Twenty One Pilots in any way, actually I find their major hit "Stresses Out" one of the best songs to go mainstream. But, the fact is that despite that, the problem with the band is that It is inconsistent and sometimes pretty edgy.

But "Trench" is somewhat diferent, It seems like a more mature and focused album. And that really paid off. Kind of surprised by the direction they took.

Im surprised twenty one pilots could make an album as great as this to be honest, they have matured a lot musically since there early more mainstream stuff.

The production is very consistent from start to finish and some of the ideas on here are really interesting and work so well, such as the song "Nico And The Niners" where the instrumental is sampled and played backwards near the end of the song to finish off with quite a psychedelic rap verse.

Its a very light hearted album and not to be taken too seriously so if you can deal with "white pop rap" and sometimes odd vocals I would recommend you give this a listen. ( It did take the second time round for me to appreciate it more)

Great listen, probably their best - not mainstream like their previous works but shows the band is improving in quality and maturity.