Twenty One Pilots- Breach
Label: Fueled By Ramen
Producers: Tyler Joseph, Mike Elizondo, Paul Meany
Breach, the eighth studio release from alt-rockers Twenty One Pilots, arrives a decade after the duo’s epic fourth album, Blurryface broke them to a national audience. That album is also significant in that it spurred a cryptic musical narrative that was a creative through-line across the three intervening records between Blurryface and Breach, which members Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun proclaim is the finale in the story. For the hardest core of Pilots fans, that’s an exciting notion, and one that they’ve been anticipating with each successive album release. For the remaining, uninitiated fanbase (the bucket I fall into BTW), it’s still another eagerly awaited album from one of the most creatively pivotal groups of the current rock era. In many ways, this whole 21P lore is akin to that of the blockbuster Netflix series, Stranger Things, which also wraps its near-decade of enthralling intrigue in the coming months. In other words, it’s a left-of-center series that managed to hook the general public with its surface-level drama and allure, while still providing plenty of under-the-radar sci-fi nuggets for die-hard enthusiasts to indulge in. Truthfully, this is the legacy of Twenty One Pilots in the popular music story of the 2010s and 2020s: they’re one of those visionary acts who have crafted ways to marry the unconventional with the conventional. It’s a balance that they make look far easier to achieve than it truly is, and it continues throughout Breach.
The record commences with “City Walls”, a charismatic continuation of the cliffhanger setting that closed out last year’s Clancy, and also contains a full-circle sampling of “Heavydirtysoul”, the opening track to Blurryface, for some added cinematic effect. The setlist that unfolds from here presents the reliable, vintage Pilots sounds that we’ve come to expect and enjoy: a dizzying blend of classic rock, alt-rock, Hip-Hop and pure pop, among other influences, with all of this joyous sonic chaos anchored by Joseph’s guttural narrations and idiosyncratic lyricism. Per usual, this offers plenty of highlights, many of which will strike you in new and exciting ways depending on when you’re listening. “Drum Show” is important for the fact that it gives drummer Dun his first lead vocal in the entire Pilots canon, a cathartic moment that then segues into the ominous “Garbage”, which feels like classic 21P in its exploration of today’s state of society and the mental implications it presents.
This is further explored in moments like “Downstairs”, which finds a relatable narrator who is happiest when he’s most disconnected from the rest of the world. Elsewhere, we’re treated to the enticing sonic whiplash that has always been a Pilots staple, such as when the contagious dance euphoria of “Robot Voices” sees the dark mystery lingering underneath all its synthy goodness segue into “Center Mass”, unquestionably one of the album’s heavier moments. This kind of juxtaposition is even more prominent between the breezy “One Way” and “Days Lie Dormant”, one of the most potent and layered emotional releases they’ve ever delivered (so much so that the transition between songs is framed with a studio outtake acknowledging its change of pace).
Again, even the deeper interpretations of these moments all probably feel rather surface-level, given the cult-following narratives that we know these are all tying back to. But if anything, this fact only elevates the long-term intrigue of the album, and the overall catalog, for those still yet to wander into that aspect of Pilots fandom. It leaves an entirely untapped potential of revelatory glory left for us in the wider audience to discover later, through the numerous Easter eggs, expensive music videos and other pieces of astutely-insulated lore that they’ve meticulously crafted. And frankly, that’s a pretty damn exciting goal to consider as a listener.
As the record reaches its finish line, it’s interesting to note that closing song “Intentions” contains an instrumental nod back to their major-label debut, 2013’s underground classic, Vessels. It’s interesting to consider the purposeful intentions of that detail, especially as the duo releases themselves from the creative tethers of this epic Blurryface story-arc. Will they return full-circle to their pre-breakthrough influences, or venture down completely new and unimagined territories? Most likely, it will be a combination of the two. But if anything feels certain coming out of Breach, it’s that while this amazing creative run may be considered complete, Twenty One Pilots themselves most certainly are not finished.
Track Listing:
- “City Walls” (Tyler Joseph, Paul Meany)
- “Rawfear” (Joseph)
- “Drum Show” (Joseph, Meany)
- “Garbage” (Joseph)
- “The Contract” (Joseph, Meany, Dominic Harrison, Matt Schwartz)
- “Downstairs” (Joseph)
- “Robot Voices” (Joseph, Shane Becker, Rahul Chakraborty, Joey Hayden, Shane Hogan, Jackson Matteucci, Maximilian Mena)
- “Center Mass” (Joseph, Daniel Fasano)
- “Cottonwood” (Joseph)
- “One Way” (Joseph, Chris Smith)
- “Days Lie Dormant” (Joseph, Meany)
- “Tally” (Joseph, Drew Fulk)
- “Intentions” (Joseph)
The 706 
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