After over half a year of hair-pulling online scavenger hunting, fans of rap/pop/rock duo Twenty One Pilots will get to hear their third studio album: "Trench." The LP will serve as the follow-up to one of 2015's biggest albums of the year, "Blurryface," and will likely deliver a track-to-track conceptual, lyrical narrative.
But what should have everyone talking is the backstory to that narrative, the set piece that is set to juxtapose modern, Western culture alongside a Judeo-Christian worldview. Here is what we know so far:
The story will come from the first-person perspective of someone escaping Dema, a society ruled by authority figures called bishops who forced the city's inhabitants to complete repetitive, daily tasks while worshiping man-made light. The accepted religion of this society, "vialism," is still yet to be fully unpacked, though a key part of it seems to be feeding dead bodies to the vultures that surround the city: this is the ultimate end to everyone in Dema, that after a life of completing these tasks and forced worship of man-made technology. Their life ultimately ends in mass graves to be devoured and swallowed up.
Now, before we throw allegations that "Trench" will just be one big analogy for the Christian Gospel, I would like to suggest a different point of view that could make Twenty One Pilots' upcoming album the one that saves 2018 from being filled with albums that are nothing but stream-algorithm-rigged, chart-aiming single collections:
"Trench" indeed features an overarching story, but could act as more of a museum exhibit that holds different themes, motifs, and values of the Gospel in tension with an overall ambiguous, self-reflective narrative.
Just last week, Tyler Joseph was featured in a Beats 1 exclusive interview with Zane Lowe, who inquired from the lead singer and songwriter of the duo about the specifics of Tyler's writing process as well as his personal life.
When [my parents] wanted to raise kids, they were like...'we want to raise a family that has faith and believes in God.' What I believe about God and my faith I would say is very different from them...my faith is constantly playing a part in the music that I write.
These words stack up incredibly with Tyler's previous lyrical content for the duo: tracks such as "Ode to Sleep" and "Hometown" reference passages of Scripture nearly word-for-word, and fan-favorite, popular set closer, "Trees," is essentially a synth-led psalm.
As for the newer material, each track from "Trench," thus far, proves to feed into that ambiguous narrative Tyler speaks of creating, while at the same time displaying heavy Christian themes and values. The album opener, Jumpsuit, sees its narrator entrusting in a new type of garment foreign and undetected by the evil rulers of the society he is trapped in, allowing him to endure the weight of planning and heading for his escape. "Levitate" and "My Blood" both reflect themes of rejecting the easier, assumed paths of life and attitude Dema seeks to instill. Instead, the tracks display a character who rises above old ways and promises to lay his life down for his friends.
Even a track like "Nico and the Niners," which is seeped into the "Trench" storyline, presents the idea of heading "true east," as the narrator and those rebelling against Dema seek to escape to true life outside the grasp of their modern-day pagan rulers.
"Trench" will be unlike any album of 2018 when it comes to its discussion among secular and religious projects: it presents an ambiguous, fictional narrative for its listeners to truly reflect on and piece together, while at the same time offering threads of motifs and themes challenging Western culture through a narrator and songwriter committed to exploring Judeo-Christian values.
"Trench" is Twenty One Pilots third studio album, and is to come out October 5th.
