Neek's 1st Listen: TØP's "Trench"
Been a while since I did one of these |
| 1 |  | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Jumpsuit:
Alright hell yeah remember really liking this single when it came out, and I’m in love with those guitars again. Just recently went through their discog (which got progressively worse imo) so we’ll see how this holds up overall. I’m not a fan of the verses but these guitar choruses are so good. The structure of this track is kinda all over the place and I dig it a lot actually. I hope this album leans into these progressive elements because those were easily the best part of their earlier albums. This bridge is super mellow but it works weirdly well, not sure how I feel about the auto tune but it definitely helps it differentiate the vocals from Blurryface. God this outro is so wild, love the screamed vocals thrown in there, I only wish it was longer. 8+/10 |
| 2 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Levitate:
Man that fade-in was nice, and aw fuck he’s rapping again. His voice sounds better here though than in the past though, I hated that weird high-pitched rap thing he did on Vessels, here it’s more confident. Still not very engaging but it’s decent. God okay it’s growing on me. I kinda really dig the repetition of this. The drums are great and the loops are really neat. That instrumental break is great too, leading into a nice-ass outro man alright this one won me over. 7.5-/10 |
| 3 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Morph:
Man these tracks are kinda weird sounding aren’t they? God I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to his raps breaking in. It never feels natural its just like “okay I’m rapping” now. Okay Tyler you do your thing, I’ll just enjoy your funky soundscapes. This chorus works better than it should though tbh. Those horns breaking in every once in a while are pretty cool not gonna lie. So like, is this a straight up hip-hop album or what? Jumpsuit has no hip-hop at all, so maybe it’s just like one or the other? Like half the songs are just rock and half are just hip-hop? Honestly I’m kinda cool with that, they sound a lot more assured on here than on their awkward genre bending that really worked sometimes and really didn’t on others. 7+/10 |
| 4 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
My Blood:
Okay this sounds more like some straight up classic TOP (straightforward vocal melody and slightly-boring but appealing chorus). I like the funky instrumentals here, that really seems to be where this album is excelling, but yeah the vocal melodies here aren’t really grabbing me. I dig the synthy shit that showed up, and the funky delivery of the “You don’t need to run” stuff is really good actually. Man all these songs so far have a way of growing on me the harder and further I listen. Man the atmosphere of this is so full and warm. 7.5-/10 |
| 5 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Chlorine:
This isn’t really a real note but I love the name of this song. This one also isn’t really grabbing me too much but fuck those little piano jangles in the background are eerie and cool af. Woah wait why is this 5 and a half minutes long? Hopefully it pulls something really ambitious and isn’t just like this the whole time. I’m really happy with the more hip-hop direction they’ve taken cause they’re doing a good job with it but yeah I wish they played with the “Jumpsuit” shit more because they nailed that rock thing. Nice ass bridge though, his vocals are taking on a kinda Thom Yorke-y vibe, and the electronic vibes building here are soooooo pretty fuck. Those strings too damn. 7.5+/10 |
| 6 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Smithereens:
Okay again, not really buying this vocal melody but dig the wonky music. This one won’t have much time to grow on me so it better figure itself out more. I feel like his voice doesn’t fit the music on this album to well more than others, like it’s great when he’s fucking with it singing more stylistically (idk if that makes sense) but when he’s just singing the way he usually does it doesn’t feel right with the music. Idk man. This song is pretty good though, I like this chorus a lot. 6.5+/10 |
| 7 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Neon Gravestones:
Love the piano stuff opening this. He rap over the atmospherics works way better than it should, I’m feeling it. This reminds me of shit from their first album but more level-headed and mature, I really hope they continue in this direction as they continue on. Fuck those drums fuzzing in and out with those weirdass backing vocals are nice as fuck. God the music just builds every chorus its so nice. Yeah the spoken word stuff he’s doing right now is kinda lame but this song is a highlight for me. 8.5-/10 |
| 8 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
The Hype:
Wow this album is pretty long. I’m only halfway through. Hopefully the rest of the album is at least as good as the first half. This one’s pretty good so far, just pretty unassuming. There doesn’t seem to be much to it but that’s fine. Holy fuck that acoustic guitar popping in halfway is awesome though, works weirdly well. I guess that’s what works so well about this album so far, strange sounds fitting together in a way more interesting and palatable than on Blurryface. There’s nothing nearly as annoying as some of those songs on here. This chorus isn’t too great but it’s still fun. 6.5+/10 |
| 9 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Nico and the Niners:
Lol that backmasking over that guitar is such a fun way to open this one, still remember not being to fond of this as a single so we’ll see how it holds up in the context of the album. Yeah the rap here is kinda lame, sounds a lot like the more lethargically placed reggae-influenced tracks on Blurryface. Still, there’s a lot of awesome quirks in the soundscape that make it more interesting than just a boring hip-hop song, which is kinda what it is otherwise. 6-/10 |
| 10 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Cut My Lip:
Man this one is nice, digging the soaring vocal melody in the chorus and the fuzzy distortion throughout. This album really does have a unique sound. The band have always been able to say that, but for some reason this just clicks better in a lot of ways, it’s darkened but that makes the proclamations of love and hope way more believable when placed against the pain. 7+/10 |
| 11 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Bandito:
To be honest throughout all the genre switching this album is still weirdly consistent on a song-to-song basis it terms of sound. There’s a lot of instrumental wankery but not a lot of variety in terms of the core elements of these tracks. I hope we get something a bit different in the future. This is a good start, a more piano based tune with the hip-hp elements more in the background in favor of lovely singing. Oh I spoke too soon, here we go. Okay lame rap that was only temporary, we’re back to the nice stuff and oh fuckkkkk electronic arcade-y weirdness? What are you doing here and why do you fit so well? God this track is great. I feel like I always jinx these things when I said that’s what an album needs and it does it. This is what this album needed. It’s an excellent tune. And that guitar at the end seals the deal. 8.5-/10 |
| 12 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Pet Cheetah:
Okay so this is a straight-up hip-hop track? I dig the slow burn build to a more aggressive beat, the rap itself is pretty cringe though. Anddddd more singing, the dichotomy between the two works well on this track too. And the instrumental break is great too. Man there’s like no structure whatever to this song and its kinda awesome, it’s all over the place and knows it, and it works. Lmao the “Pet Cheetah—Cheetah” is so funny and they know it’s dumb and it works the same way. They embrace the weirdness on this album in a way that’s actually sonically appealing. 7.5+/10 |
| 13 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Legend:
Here we go, some classic upbeat TOP. That acoustic guitar is really cute and the vocal melody feels like such a throwback to Vessel. This is a fun little song but it does feel a bit out of place here and a bit too much like a callback to the old days. Still, it’s pretty fun and solid so who’s really gonna complain? This last chorus has a strange amount of stuff going on and the hornssssss oh my god those fit really damn well. God they’ve come so far haven’t they? They reclaimed their creativity but kept their sales. Good for them. 7+/10 |
| 14 | | Twenty One Pilots
Trench
Leave the City:
Yes emotional outro come on fuck me up. You know, this is one of their best albums I’d say but it doesn’t have any of my top-tier TOP songs (at least that have jumped out so far) so I’d really appreciate if this turns into some “Kitchen Sink” level insanity. That’d be really nice. Love the piano here and the vocals work very well. Oh is that a quiet guitar creeping back there? And the electronic warbles goddamn where is this going? I’m waiting for a climax, I can feel it building in my loins. God this track is just lovely. And they cut it off for a piano/voice solo fml it’s so pretty. And we’re back to the build up lets go come on lets do this please. Yes come on. Aghhhhhh they cut it off again they’re just edging me with this climactic bullshit come on. I need a release. They aren’t gonna do it. They’re just playing with me. It’s just gonna be piano stuff from now on. Goddammit. Just left me wanting more. 8.5-/10 |
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