A Journey Through Trench: Twenty One Pilot’s
Most Ambitious Album Yet
by Anthony Yates
A
fter a year-long break, with no tours or any contact with each other, the Grammy award-winning duo
“Twenty One Pilots” finally broke their silence last summer. Releasing two new singles “Jumpsuit” and
“Levitate” along with the announcement of their new album “Trench” set out to be released on October
2018. The two singles set out a rock, hip-hop and reggae feel and made fans excited for the new album.
This was when something very interesting happened. Twenty One Pilots’ drummer “Josh Dun” appeared at
an award ceremony where he accepted an award and said, “Tyler [the lead singer and frontman of twenty
one pilots] is cutting ties with ‘Dema.’” When this was said, no one really understood what it meant, but
their fan base, the “Skeleton Clique”, knew what was coming. The reputation of Twenty One Pilots’ cryptic
message preceded itself.
A few days later, the clique discovered a page on dmaorg.info that seemed to be linked to the new album’s
mythos called “Dema”. Fans soon realised that the website started unveiling cryptic messages about a place
called Dema, and the people who lived there. This was the beginning of the foundation of the narrative of
Trench. Trench was not only going to be an album, but it was going to be a narrative and journey.
On October 5, 2018, the full-length album “Trench” was finally released. It was leaked a week earlier by
Russian hackers, which made some fans get the album earlier than everyone else (myself included). This
14 song track album was unlike anything Twenty One Pilots had ever released. It told a story about pain,
loss, bravery, and most importantly, the idea of escape. Not only were songs like “Chlorine”, “Nico and the
Niners” and “My Blood” instant hits. The songs were also an experience of no other. Many music critics gave
the album rave reviews.
The full narrative to the Trench mythos is too long to explain here, but it is a cryptic story featuring characters
such as Clancy, Nico, and the Nine Bishops. To find out more, check out the aforementioned dmaorg.info.