★★★★★
The story of genre-defying band Twenty One Pilots’ new album, Breach, really begins 10 years ago, with the 2015 release of their first chart-topping album, Blurryface. Since then, the band has been building not just a discography, but a world, spanning a decade of albums, music videos, and lore.
Lead vocalist Tyler Joseph plays Clancy, the protagonist of Twenty One Pilots’ fictional world. Clancy serves as a symbol of Joseph’s struggles with depression, anxiety, and insecurities, portrayed through Clancy’s battle to free himself and other rebels from the dystopian city of Dema, fleshed out in the duo’s 2018 album Trench.
Breach is the culmination of this narrative, where we finally learn the fate of Clancy and drummer Josh Dun’s character, the Torchbearer, after a decade of conflict with Dema’s totalitarian leaders, known as Bishops.
But Breach is more than just the end of a story. It pays tribute to the band’s previous albums conceptually and musically, with callbacks and samples from Vessel (2013), Blurryface (2015), and Trench (2018).
The album opens with “City Walls,” a fast-paced track accompanied by a 10-minute-long music video. Music videos from Clancy (2024) left viewers on a cliffhanger, with Clancy and his Bandito rebels finally piercing the heart of Dema, and the protagonist coming face-to-face with the leader of the Bishops, Nico.
In “City Walls,” Clancy meets his fate when Nico corrupts him, smearing his neck and face in black ink, and turning him into a Bishop as the Torchbearer and other Banditos watch helplessly.
A fitting beginning to the end of the saga, the track incorporates lyrics from 2013’s “Holding On To You” and “Migraine” and ends in the same riff that begins 2015’s “Heavydirtysoul,” the song that contained the first references to the band’s fictional world. This first track creates a loop, connecting Breach to the story’s origins.
“You see, in a city with no entrance, there is not a retreat,” sings Joseph. “I’m wondering what you thought would happen / Who you thought I would be.”
The sound of Breach is consistent with Joseph and Dun’s previous albums in that it spans a breadth of genres and elements, from rap verses to screaming outbursts. It leans heavily on Dun’s drumming, highlighted in the third track “Drum Show,” the first song to feature Dun’s vocals in addition to his rhythm.
The album features a few refreshing departures from the typically heavy sound of Clancy’s story. “Robot Voices” provides a punchier, more pop-influenced sound halfway through Breach, introducing the softer second half of the album.
Although Breach brings Clancy’s narrative to an end, several one-off tracks are more personal to the duo. A soft piano intro plays in “Cottonwood,” an homage to Joseph’s grandfather and the most bittersweet track of the album.
“I look back in time through a telescope,” sings Joseph. “I’ve been catching my / My reflection already looking.”
Even in the standalone songs, the lyrics point to themes of a repeating loop or being trapped in a cycle. Although the narrative is ending, the album seems to leave listeners with a lingering uncertainty about how final Clancy’s corruption really is.
“He’s out there somewhere, and we will try again,” says Dun as the Torchbearer at the end of the “City Walls” music video.
Notably, the final track in Breach, “Intentions,” is backed by the music from 2013’s “Truce,” in reverse. Its lyrics mirror its 2013 counterpart, and provide a haunting sense of closure to this chapter of Twenty One Pilots—“I am starting it all over once again / Did I learn a thing?”