About “Trench”

Trench is the fifth album by musical duo Twenty One Pilots, officially released on October 5, 2018. The album leaked three days before this release date, on October 2, 2018. In the album, Twenty One Pilots revisits the subject of mental illness in the form of an allegory. The album was first formally announced on July 11, 2018 with the release of the singles “Jumpsuit” and “Nico And The Niners.” The album was teased weeks in advance through updates to a cryptic website called “dmaorg.” On August 7, 2018, the song “Levitate” was accidentally released early on Tidal, along with the complete tracklist for the album. The single and tracklist were then officially released the next morning.

In an interview with BBC Radio 1 Josh Dun revealed that this album would further the story of their last album, Blurryface. He added:

It kind of zooms out a little bit and there is a full narrative. Musically, I’m very excited about it, It continues to be diverse.

The story revolves around a character named Clancy, who must escape a walled city called Dema. The city is ruled by nine bishops, whose names are Andre, Lisden, Keons, Nico, Reisdro, Sacarver, Nills, Vetomo, and Listo. One of these bishops can be seen in the music video for “Jumpsuit.”

The bishops keep the people of Dema in line by removing hope through a religion they invented called “Vialism”, which can be heard in the reversed intro of “Nico and the Niners.” Eventually, Clancy joins with a group of individuals who call themselves “banditos.” The banditos work together to help free people from the grip of Dema and its bishops. They use the color yellow and the slogan “east is up” to guide people to freedom. Although the task is dangerous, the walls are high, and not all who try to survive, with the help of the banditos Clancy escapes from Dema.

In a metaphorical sense, Dema represents mental illness. On the dmaorg website the city is repeatedly compared to a Zoroastrian tower of silence, where the dead are left to rot. This underscores the severity of mental illness and the urgency of escaping from it. The high walls of Dema represent the great challenge that is overcoming depression. The bishops are the manifestations of depression. This is supported by the fact the bishops correspond to the circles on the Blurryface album cover. Furthermore, their names are references to song lyrics on Blurryface On Blurryface, these circles represent manifestations of Tyler’s depression, as personified by Blurryface. “Vialism” represents the mentality of a depressed person, hopeless and isolated. The term most likely comes from the word “vial,” meaning a small container. To be a follower of Vialism means not seeking help for mental illness, and feeling alone and hopeless as a result. The banditos are people who have escaped the rips of depression and are reaching out to those still suffering. The banditos' slogan, “east is up,” is repeated as a constant reminder that the sun will come up soon, and they will feel better in the morning. This subject was tackled before, in “Ode To Sleep.” In a similar vein, the banditos use the color yellow as a reference to the color of sunlight. Unfortunately, as not everyone survives an escape from Dema, depression can be a deadly affliction and not everyone survives. It is possible Clancy represents Tyler as he tries to save listeners from depression and self-harm. This would fall in line with the role he took on in “Guns For Hands.”