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Trench (Album) - Wikipedia
Trench (Album) - Wikipedia
Trench is the fifth studio album by American musical duo Twenty One Pilots, released on
October 5, 2018, through Fueled by Ramen. It was the band's first studio album in three years,
after the breakthrough success of their fourth studio album, Blurryface (2015). Recorded in
secret during a year-long public silence, it is a concept album which explores mental health,
suicide, and doubt, themes prominently featured in the band's previous works, framed in the
metaphorical city of Dema and the surrounding continent known as "Trench".[1] The album was
also the first release of the newly-revived Elektra Music Group.
The album was preceded by the release of four singles. The first two, "Jumpsuit" and "Nico and
the Niners", were both released on July 11, 2018. The third single, "Levitate", was released on
August 8, 2018. The fourth single, "My Blood", was released on August 27, 2018. Two more
singles, "Chlorine" and "The Hype", were released on January 22 and July 16, 2019, respectively.
To promote the album, the band embarked on the Bandito Tour, which began at the
Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on October 16, 2018, and concluded at the Aragon
Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois on December 13, 2019.
Trench received acclaim from critics, who praised its ambition, songwriting and cohesive
production; many contrasted it favorably with Blurryface. Several publications placed the record
on their year-end lists of 2018, with Rock Sound naming it the best album of the year. It was
also a commercial success, reaching number one in six countries, including Australia, New
Zealand, Spain and the Netherlands, and number two in several countries, notably the United
Kingdom and United States.
Background Trench
and
production
Twenty One Pilots released their fourth studio
album, Blurryface, on May 17, 2015. The album
topped the Billboard 200 and produced two
top five singles, "Stressed Out" and "Ride",
peaking at number two and number five,
Studio album by
respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. The
songs, along with the single "Heathens" from Twenty One Pilots
the Suicide Squad soundtrack, launched the
band into mainstream success in 2016. The duo
embarked on two concert tours in support of
Released October 5
the album from 2015 to 2017. In an interview
with Alternative Press, the band stated that Recorded 2017–
they would be "going dark" in order to focus on
new music, and added that they would focus 2018
on the lyrical content and bring back the
"authenticity, lyrics, delivery, and fearlessness
of songwriting" of the band's eponymous
Studio Tyler
album.[2] Following the five final dates of the
band's tour, "Tour De Columbus", the duo
Joseph's
entered a year-long break from public
appearances beginning on July 6, 2017, in
home
order to rest and work on their next
project.[3][4][2]
studio
(Columbus,
Ohio) ·
United
Recording
Studios
Paul Meany, singer and keyboardist
of the alternative rock band
Mutemath, co-wrote and co- (Hollywood,
produced much of the project
alongside frontman Tyler Joseph. California)
The conceptual world of "Trench" was created
before the songs from the album had been Genre Alternative
written, departing from the band's regular
songwriting process where they would create rock ·
the album song by song.[5] It is unclear when
production of Trench began; however, lead
singer Tyler Joseph was working on the track
alternative
"Bandito" as early as 2015, during the
Blurryface Tour.[6] Joseph produced the album's
hip hop ·
fourteen tracks within his private home studio,
while Josh Dun's drum tracks were recorded at
pop rock ·
United Recording Studios.[7] Mutemath
frontman and keyboardist Paul Meany co-
electronic
produced and co-wrote much of the project,
following his previous collaboration with
rock ·
Twenty One Pilots for the TOPxMM remix EP
and on the Emotional Roadshow World
R&B ·
Tour.[8][9] Adam Hawkins mixed the album in its
entirety. The album's "drop dead due date to
reggae ·
get ahead of production and distribution" was
August 15, 2018, less than two months before
electropop
the release of the album.[10] · rap rock
No one other than Joseph, Dun, and Meany
were involved in the songwriting process for
the album in order to eliminate any effect a Length 56:04
family member, friend or colleague could have
on the final form of the record's content
through their comments. In an interview with Label Fueled
Kerrang!, Joseph explained that he only
showed these people the album when it was by
finished so that their reaction would be "as
close to their true reaction as possible."[11] In a Ramen ·
later interview with The New York Times, he
recounted how the project "almost destroyed"
him, leading him to consider ending all work on
Elektra
it, as his emotional state "whiplashed" between
self-deprecation and self-confidence.[12] Producer Tyler
Joseph ·
Concept and Paul
music Meany
continues the band's exploration of
Twenty One Pilots
chronology
Trench
themes surrounding insecurity, faith, suicide,
and mental health, prominent themes on
Twenty One Pilots' previous albums.[13] The
album was formed around the conceptual
world of "Trench", created by Joseph and Blurryface Trench Sca
represented through the album's
accompanying marketing and music videos.[8] (2015) (2018) an
Much of the album and its marketing material Ic
discusses the city of "Dema", a fictional
location set within Trench that draws its name
from dakhma, or "Tower of Silence", in
(20
Zoroastrianism. In that religion, Towers of
Silence were used to dispose of dead bodies by
having vultures eat the corpses. The band
explained on Reddit that they were inspired by
the "sad and intriguing concept of a dying
religion... the reason it was dying was
something they could never control: The lack of
the vultures needed to carry out their theology.
Singles from
Something so natural and logistical can get in Trench
the way of your religion."[14][15]
1. "Jumpsuit"
Released: July
11, 2018
2. "Nico and the
Niners"
Nico, one of the nine "bishops" of
Dema, is named after Nicolas Released: July
Bourbaki, the collective pseudonym
of a group of predominantly French
mathematicians. The picture is taken 11, 2018
3. "Levitate"
at the Bourbaki congress at
Dieulefit, 1938. From left, Simone
Weil,[a] Charles Pisot, André Weil,
Jean Dieudonné (sitting), Claude
Chabauty, Charles Ehresmann, and
Jean Delsarte.[17] Released:
Trench 's city, Dema, is ruled by nine "bishops",
whose names are Nico (full name Nicolas
August 8, 2018
Bourbaki, based on a collective pseudonym of
a group of mainly French mathematicians),
4. "My Blood"
Andre, Lisden, Keons, Reisdro, Sacarver, Nills,
Vetomo, and Listo.[19] The chief bishop, Nico,
Released:
was revealed by Joseph to be Blurryface, the
personification of his insecurities from their
August 27,
previous album of the same name.[18] Other
characters involved are part of a group who
2018
call themselves the "Banditos", whose aim is to
liberate the people of Dema. They adopt the
color yellow, specifically 0xFCE300, which the
bishops are unable to see, instead seeing it as 5. "Chlorine"
grey.[20]
Released:
The album, like Twenty One Pilots' previous
records, contains many different genres of January 22,
music, including alternative rock,[21] alternative
hip hop,[22] pop rock,[23] electronic rock,[23]
R&B,[24] reggae,[25] electropop[26] and rap
2019
rock.[27] It opens with the alternative and hard
rock song containing progressive rock and nu 6. "The Hype"
metal hooks, "Jumpsuit".[28][29][30] Lyrically it is
about dealing with Joseph's insecurities.[25] It Released: July
was described by Rolling Stone as having
"distorted bass guitar, crisp drumming and dark 16, 2019
washes of synth" with Joseph's vocals building
from "a near-whisper to a full-throated
scream, to an atmospheric falsetto."[31]
The song's outro merges into the next Last record, Blurryface was a character that
track, "Levitate", a minimalist rap rock represented insecurity, and the more you
track.[32][33] "Morph" is a fusion of jazz, learn about those insecurities and the more
rock, rap, and reggae.[34][35] It explores you learn about that character, the more
the themes of life after death and control that you can have over things like
references the leading bishop, Nico.[13] that in your mental game of war. With this
The song has been compared to artists record being a continuation of that, one of
such as Khalid, the Prodigy, Beck and DJ the things that I knew I wanted to do was to
Shadow.[27][36][37] The following track, "My figure out Blurryface's real name, and
Blood", is an indie pop and rock song Blurryface's real name is Nicolas Bourbaki.
Singles
On July 11, 2018, the band released the first two singles, "Jumpsuit" and "Nico and the Niners",
as well as a music video for "Jumpsuit".[31] On July 25, 2018, a music video for "Nico and the
Niners" was released, as the second of a trilogy of videos centered on the fictional world of
Trench. Both videos feature references to the videos of previous songs, including
"Heavydirtysoul" and "Stressed Out", with the repeated imagery of a burning car for the former
and an elaborate handshake by Joseph and Dun for the latter.[62][83][84][85][86]
The third single off the album, "Levitate", was leaked onto the streaming platform Tidal prior to
its official release in August, only to quickly be removed.[69] The song was subsequently released
the next day as the album's third single via Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show as the day's "World
Record", accompanied by the album's official track listing.[87] A music video was also released,
concluding the trilogy.[88]
On August 20, 2018, at the VMAs, a ten-second long snippet of the song "My Blood" was played
at the end of a commercial promoting the album.[89] On August 27, 2018, a Twitter user leaked
the full song onto his Twitter account in low quality, after they found that it could be played on
their Apple HomePod. The leak was confirmed real when the band made the song available on
streaming services later that day, as the album's fourth single.[90][91] A music video for the song
premiered on YouTube the day of the album's release.[92][93] On January 22, 2019, the track
"Chlorine" was released as the album's fifth single and was accompanied by a music video.[94][95]
"The Hype" was sent to US alternative radio on July 16, 2019 as the sixth and final single from
the album, with its music video released on July 26.[96]
Tour
The day of the release of "Jumpsuit", the band announced that a concert tour in support of the
album, titled "The Bandito Tour", would begin on October 16, 2018.[97] It was later revealed that
Awolnation and Max Frost would perform as the opening act for the first North American leg of
the tour.[98]
On August 19, 2018, Twenty One Pilots released an unlisted YouTube video promoting a concert
at the Brixton Academy in London; the concert was titled "A Complete Diversion", a reference to
a line from the song "Nico and the Niners" ("And start a concert, a complete diversion").[99][100]
The concert took place on September 12, 2018, less than a month before the scheduled release
date of the album.[101]
The first North American leg of the tour started in Nashville, Tennessee on October 18, 2018,
less than two weeks after the album was released.[102][103] After North America, shows
continued in Australia and Europe, as well as several festivals in South America.[102] A second
North American leg ending on June 30, 2019 was added to the tour, including shows in Mexico
and Canada as well as two shows in the band's hometown, Columbus.[104][105] This was followed
by a series of prominent festival headlining performances in North America and Europe ending
on December 13, 2019, and by a third North American leg ending on November 9, 2019.[106]
Commercial performance
Trenchbecame Twenty One Pilots' first number one album in Australia, debuting atop the ARIA
Albums Chart on October 13.[107] It also debuted at number one in New Zealand,[108] Spain,[109]
Portugal,[110] Czech Republic,[111] Mexico,[112] and the Netherlands.[113]
Trench debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 behind the soundtrack for A Star Is
Born, with 175,000 album-equivalent units, of which 135,000 were pure album sales. This
marked the band's biggest sales week in the country, surpassing their number one album
Blurryface.[114][115] It is the band's second US top three album.[114] The album then dipped to
number 7 in its second week with 49,000 units.[116] The album debuted at number one on the
Top Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts, and every song from the album charted in the
top 25 of the US Hot Rock Songs chart.[117] The album also debuted at number two on the
Canadian Albums Chart with 11,000 album-equivalent units.[118] The album was leading the UK
midweek charts upon its release with 6,000 combined sales,[119] but debuted number two on
the UK Albums Chart with 29,835 copies (including 6,178 sales equivalent streams), almost
2,000 behind the soundtrack album A Star Is Born, making it the band's highest charting album
to date in the country.[120][121][122] It also became the band's highest charting album in Ireland,
Scotland, Finland, and Norway, debuting at number two in these countries. In France, the album
debuted at number nine on the SNEP Albums Chart, selling 6,400 units.[123] In the US, Trench
was certified Platinum on May 14, 2020.[124][125]
By January 3, 2019, 7,000 cassette copies of Trench had been sold in the US, making it the third
most sold cassette album of 2018 behind Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 and
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2, and making a major contribution to the 23%
rise in cassette sales in the US in 2018.[126][127]
Reception
Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 81/100[128]
Review scores
Source Rating
411 Mania 7/10[129]
AllMusic [130]
Dead Press [131]
Gig Soup 79%[132]
Hot Press 7/10[133]
Kerrang! 4/5[134]
NME [41]
PopMatters [27]
Rolling Stone [135]
The Spill Magazine 4/5[136]
Trench received critical acclaim, earning extensive praise for its ambition, songwriting and more
cohesive production. Many contrasted it favorably with the band's previous album Blurryface,
noting a growth in overall maturity. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100
to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 81 out of 100 based on 6
reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[128]
David McLaughlin of Kerrang! found the band to be "at their most personal and creatively
daring best," praising the album's songwriting, ambition, catchiness and accessibility.[134] Gary
Ryan of NME described the record as "the sound of a band ratcheting up the ambition without
ever being pulled down by an undertow of pretentiousness," adding that "it's more low-key than
Blurryface, but ultimately more rewarding;" he also opined that though "the narrative... doesn't
overwhelm," Joseph's songwriting is "most affecting when he steps beyond any concept
straight-jacket."[41] Neil Z. Yeung acclaimed the album's introspective lyrics in his review for
AllMusic, summarizing that "although Trench requires a few spins to really register, it's ultimately
rewarding and fully immersive, delivering a depth and gravity at which Twenty One Pilots only
hinted on Blurryface."[130] Vicki Mahony of The Spill Magazine praised the album's darker themes
and more mature sound compared to Blurryface, and further commended its "outstanding"
production and "dynamic sound."[136]
Billboard writer Chris Payne considered Trench "surprisingly cohesive" and complimented its
"outstanding sequencing and production continuity," concluding that it "matches the stakes of
Blurryface and all its demon-conquering, genre-blurring catharsis, while raising it one on the
sonic universe holding it all together."[36] Similarly, Rolling Stone 's Christopher Weingarten
stated that the array of genres and ideas found on Blurryface had "coalesced into a smarter,
more mature whole" on Trench, additionally noting its "more cohesive sound and feel" and the
duo's growth "as songwriters and arrangers."[135] Joshua Copperman of PopMatters expressed
similar opinions, claiming that "the album hangs together thanks to an increased maturity in the
thematic content and production," but had mixed feelings towards its musical restraint:
although he considered it "not a bad fit" for the band, it occasionally "leads to lesser versions of
the kinds of music they normally do well."[27] Conversely, Damon Taylor of Dead Press wrote that
"a plethora of influences are splashed across the record, giving their core sound a new
distinction," and additionally praised Dun's drumming, writing that he "pushes the pace of each
track with reserve and intensity in equal measure."[131]
David Hayter of 411 Mania considered that "mythos laden concept album Trench might struggle
to consistently fire on all cylinders, but the good far out weighs the bad, making for a
thoughtful and sonically daring experience."[129] Chris Willman, writing for Variety, found the
album to be at its best when the songs "ditch the characters and concept and just have Joseph
directly saying what he means," adding: "take my recommendation and forget about the most
deeply conceptual parts of this concept album — which just seems like a lot of work — and
enjoy the many parts of Trench that don't require a thirst for symbolic origin stories."[21]
Conversely, Stephen Keegan of Hot Press opined that "in today's 'stan culture', Joseph's clever
breadcrumbing of lyrical clues allows fans to bond over their shared community – and will have
obsessives debating on Genius.com for months."[133] GIG Soup wrote highly positively of the
album's "personal" songwriting, claiming that "Twenty One Pilots are discussing topics others
are afraid to, and they are doing it right."[132]
Accolades
Year-end lists
Publication Accolade Rank Ref.
Alternative Press The 50 Best Albums of 2018 — [137]
The 50 Best Albums of 2018 34 [138]
Billboard
The 25 Best Rock Albums of 2018 4 [139]
iHeartRadio Top 10 ALT Albums of 2018 — [140]
Kerrang! The 50 Albums that Shook 2018 21 [141]
Rock Sound Rock Sound's Best Albums of 2018 1 [142]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Tyler Joseph, except where noted.
Trench track listing
No. Title Length
1. "Jumpsuit" 3:58
2. "Levitate" 2:25
3. "Morph" (Joseph, Paul 4:19
Meany)
4. "My Blood" 3:49
5. "Chlorine" (Joseph, Meany) 5:24
6. "Smithereens" (Joseph, 2:57
Meany)
7. "Neon Gravestones" 4:00
8. "The Hype" 4:25
9. "Nico and the Niners" 3:45
10. "Cut My Lip" (Joseph, Meany) 4:43
11. "Bandito" (Joseph, Meany) 5:31
12. "Pet Cheetah" (Joseph, 3:18
Meany)
13. "Legend" 2:53
14. "Leave the City" 4:40
Total length: 56:04
Triplet EP (10" vinyl)[143]
No. Title Length
1. "Jumpsuit" 3:58
2. "Levitate" 2:25
3. "Nico and the Niners" 3:45
Total length: 10:11
Personnel
Recording
Published by Warner-Tamerlane
publishing Corp. (BMI) and Stryker
Joseph Music (BMI)
Recorded at Tyler Joseph's home studio
(Columbus, Ohio)[18] and United Recording
Studios (Hollywood, California)[7]
Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York,
New York)
Twenty One Pilots
Tyler Joseph – lead vocals, piano, bass
guitar, synthesizers, guitar, organs,
ukulele, programming, production,
songwriting
Josh Dun – drums, percussion, drum
engineering, trumpet, backing vocals
Additional musicians
Paul Meany – synthesizers,
programming, keyboards, production,
songwriting, backing vocals
Additional personnel
Chris Gehringer – mastering
Adam Hawkins – mixing
Brad Heaton – photography and
illustrating
Brian Ranney – packaging
Brandon Rike – creative director, design
Chris Woltman – executive producer
Charts
See also
External links
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