Twelve years ago, I listened to my first Twenty One Pilots album, “Vessel.”
Now, Twenty One Pilots has delivered what fans believe to be their final album, “Breach,” on Sept. 12. “Clancy’s” predecessor, “Breach,” truly caps off as a send-off album for the band. Even with the opening piece, there are sprinkles of past songs and albums.
I did not like “Clancy” as a whole. It did not stand up to “Blurryface” or “Scaled and Icy,” my two favorite albums.
Even “Trench,” an album that gets carried for me by “Jumpsuit”, “Smithereens”, and “Nico and the Niners,” I felt had more standouts and worked as an album over “Clancy.” Going into my first listen of “Breach,” my expectations were high in hopes that the band would redeem themselves.
Let’s rank Twenty One Pilots’ eighth, and potentially final, studio album and see where it lands for me.
City Walls 10/10 Giv Certified
A five-minute song, opening with only guitar and drums for the first minute, really sets the tone for this album.
The instrumentals throughout really speak on the song’s isolationist message, especially starting at the 3:00 mark of the song. It’s a long song that throws different elements throughout to keep it fresh.
The last minute makes this definitely feel like an album closer, a last release of instrumentals and lyrics, and the song ends with a nod to “Heavydirtysoul”, which I absolutely loved.
RAWFEAR 9/10
City Walls into “RAWFEAR” is a lethal duo to open this album. The first 18 seconds build up the anticipation before vocals take over as the main element of the song. My favorite part is how the beat speeds up as the line “never slowing down” repeats. It’s simple, but very effective, and puts the song as a whole together.
Drum Show 10/10 Giv Certified
There is nothing I love more than a drum show, and that’s exactly what’s presented in this song. The album debut of Tyler Joseph’s vocals appears in this song, and they’re truly a memorable listen. As a whole, this song ranks so high for me because it just feels like a classic rock song. It’s one of those driving ragers, as told by Twenty One Pilots drummer Josh Dun.
“I think the idea is, like, high school, college, sort of, like, angst when you’re driving to and from school or work and music is kind of the only thing that you’ve got,” Dun told BBC Radio. “And sometimes you’ve just gotta get out all the aggression on the steering wheel.”
Garbage 9/10
“Piano seems to take a backseat nowadays, for me,” Joseph said before a listening event. “A little bit, because I just love exploring different instruments and different pieces of gear. But this one to me kind of brings me back home, to the piano.”
It’s a shared sentiment for me as well. Piano isn’t the main instrument I think of when it comes to Twenty One Pilots, but it is executed well in this song. Combine that with lyrics like “my systems are running at 20%” and you have a song that not only sounds good, but is relatable. With a 3:15 run time, Garbage strays away from its namesake, flowing well with its predecessor Drum Show.
The Contract 6/10
In my initial listen to this song, I gave it a five, saved from receiving an even lower ranking by the instrumentals and the rap-style part a minute into the song.
After giving it one more listen, I decided to bump it up to a six, the rap section as well as the lyrics saving it for me, with my favorite being “I don’t sleep much, that’s crazy, how’d you know that?” The nearly four-minute-long song just doesn’t sit well with me. It doesn’t have any replay value to me and it’s an unusual song situated after “Garbage”.
Downstairs 7/10
Another song over five minutes long, this one speaks on hiding emotions and feelings in a metaphorical downstairs. This one is a step up from “The Contract” in that it’s a more flowy song. I enjoy the instrumentals, and the song really steps into a spot I like at about the 3:20 mark.
Robot Voices 5/10
This song just feels way too slow, like it should have a faster tempo. The chorus at the 1:30 mark took the flow away from the rest of the song and it completely threw me off. The parts around the chorus are great, and make this song for me.
The chorus lyrics save the rating, with “when I met you, I felt safe and warm” among the other lines really pull together the idea of meeting someone that makes you feel secure and protected.
Center Mass 10/10 Giv Certified
When this song played for the first time while I was in the car, I did a double-take to make sure I was still on the right album, because this first sounded like a song that would be on “Scaled and Icy.”
At 19 seconds, the song begins, and a sick drum beat pops off. When the drumming stops, the song sounds just as good as the vocals step up as the main focus. The song flows the entire way, using a gradual crescendo into the section at 2:25, which is masterful, and the tension release is excellently done.
Cottonwood 7/10
Piano to get us started? I’ll never turn that down. What I wasn’t expecting were the soft drums behind it throughout the song.
A cottonwood, the song’s namesake, is a tree species. Joseph said it was his late grandfather’s favorite tree.
“I like it for the little white things it drops once a year,” he said.
The 1:50 mark to the end, is my favorite part of the song, and truly presents its melancholy and nostalgic feeling.
One Way 10/10 Giv Certified
Another song where I had to do a double-take. The drum opening with the oddly satisfying instrumentals really tuned me in. The “bop, bop, bop” that repeats throughout the song is arguably my favorite part of this song. The disappearance of every instrument except drums from 30 seconds in until about 45 seconds is another great part.
The best part of the song lies at 1:10. The fade out into just the drums, bass and lyrics gave me goosebumps. The “bop, bop, bops” get stronger and more prominent at this point in the song, even amidst the main lyrics. I repeated this part of the song way too many times.
This song loses out on being an 11 because I wish it was longer.
Days Lie Dormant 8/10
At the end of One Way, someone calls Dun and leaves a voicemail about the vibe change from “One Way” into “Days Lie Dormant.”
And I definitely enjoy it. A faster-paced rock song. At the 2:03 mark, we get a piano, and it’s used to convey a somber feeling about Joseph missing his wife while on tour. I feel it is executed much better than in “Cottonwood.”
Tally 6/10
I listened to “Tally” multiple times while writing this. The difference between it being a six and a seven was solely because of its placement in the album. When I placed it after intentions, it didn’t sound right, but when I listened to it in the order of “Intentions,” “Days Lie Dormant,” “Tally,” it sounded much better.
The song as a whole isn’t bad. I don’t know Twenty One Pilots’ lore, so the song’s message doesn’t land with me, but it’s a decent listen.
Intentions 7/10
The album finale lacks just a bit for me. The song is only 2:15, the shortest on the album. It does not feel unfinished, but it does feel incomplete, like far away from a true grand finale feel.
The song itself is a slow one. It doesn’t do a good job of tying the album to a close, but it does do a good job of closing Twenty One Pilots as a band. The “oohs” that play throughout the song, as well as the instrumentals and melody, are revealed to be a reversed version of “Truce,” their closing song from their 2013 album “Vessel.” That creativity alone makes it a good song, and I feel just a bit longer could make it a good album ender.
Overall Grade 7/10
When I wrote this, I went into it with the mindset that this album is not “Scaled and Icy” or “Blurryface”, and it is definitely not “Clancy”. A lot of songs got second opinions during writing, and I feel that the listening experience was enhanced because of this. “Tally” and “Intentions” both got bumped up one point on my listen while writing.
It was obvious I wasn’t going to like every single song, but where my high ratings were given, they were good. “City Walls”, “Drum Show”, and “Center Mass” were all very good pieces, but they don’t carry the album. They enhance it around songs like “Garbage” and “RAWFEAR”.
I will also admit that I was much harsher in this review than in my previous review. My lowest Laufey rating was a seven, while this one had a five and multiple sixes. They didn’t resonate with me and did not enhance the album experience. Still, Twenty One Pilots made a great send-off album and truly captured the beauty of their craft.
