Review of Breach (2025)¶

Published 2025-12-09 because wow this was a busy semester

Sorted by the order in which I listened to them.

The Contract¶

I watched the MV in a hallway next to a classroom. It feels like a pretty conventional pop song, with tastefully executed autotune. My favorite frame in the MV is this one where Tyler throws a mic in slomo and the cable makes a noose shape.

That night I managed to get a ticket to their Cincinnati show for $85 (upper level seat).

Drum Show¶

Their teaser video was just Tyler and Josh setting up their stuff in a parking lot. My favorite moment was Tyler yeeting his chair once Josh said he was done.

Here is my fedi post discussing the teaser:

1. Absolutely based of the boys to use ISO 8601 in their teaser video "2025-08-01_20-54-04".

2. At 13:35, 16:35 and 19:35 in the teaser, three PA announcement can be heard asking for service on level 8, 1, and 8 respectively in a huge parking lot.

   1. When I first watched it, I noticed that the acoustics sound out of place, which made me suspect it was dubbed into the video. The actual parking lot should sound much more mushy and echoey.

   2. I also correctly deciphered that "818" meant August 18th, which turned out to be the release date of the single.

   3. Every PA announcement is preceded by a series of repeated G# piano notes. At 1:57 in the song, the piano in the bridge plays repeated G# at roughly the same tempo. This confirms 2.1, unless it was indeed played live via an external speaker.

3. Conclusion: twenty one pilots have single handedly raised an era of detectives

4. Drum Show: masterpiece

Now, onto the song itself. I absolutely love the bass work, Josh's vocals (jocals), and, of course, drums, especially the triplet fill at the end. As a former drummer, I sometimes smack things on tempo for no good reason, so I do relate.

On my flight to DTW, I timed my playlist so that this song ended right as I landed. It also helped me work up my courage to do something very important that I'd never done before that somehow involves a car wash and an IKEA, so it has a special place in my heart.

City Walls¶

I watched the MV at midnight when it dropped. You know what else dropped? My jaw. Absolute cinema.

Musically, I love the detuned instrument that came after each chorus. (Paul Meany later revealed it was a saxophone sample.) The flow in the rap verses is great. In the outro, you can hear Tyler screaming "address my soul" in the backing vocals. There's also a sample of Heavydirtysoul at the end.

Lyrically, the song surrounds a motif of physical fight. It references Migraine and HOTY.

Intentions¶

Intentions followed City Walls in the latter's MV. The instrumental is Truce reversed, giving us the third Vessel reference.

When I came back to it after a full listen of Breach, I realized it did do the Dema lore justice.

RAWFEAR¶

At first I thought it was generic and conventional, other than the tempo changes (ramp up, then ramp down). But it turns out the lyrics resonated with me somewhat. It grew on me.

Garbage¶

Stressed Out 3 (Stressed Out 2 being Backslide). My comment in a group chat:

Remember when tøp was only relatable to emo kids? /s

Downstairs¶

So Tyler reworked one of his early demos. There's a truck driver key change. The lyrics in the chorus sound kinda cheesy, but I can take it. I like how the vocals intentionally does not resolve at the end.

Robot Voices¶

Collab with Blanket Approval. I don't know what the song is trying to say, or if it has anything to do with the lore or Tyler's life. I just hope it's not about sex robots.

Center Mass¶

One of my favorites. It's jazzy, it samples a TikTok of the Manchester drum thief incident, and the lyrics are drenched in emotion, in a way that's raw and spontaneous.

Cottonwood¶

Center Mass leading into Cottonwood is wonderful. I need that dose of depression.

The chorus is beautiful.

I look back in time
through a telescope
I've been catching my
I've been catching my
My reflection already looking

First time since Vessel that they did not name a song after its lyrics.

One Way¶

Another banger. This has my favorite bassline of the album. I would also like to talk about the chromaticism. I checked the chords on UkuTabs, and it uses all 12 notes. The most interesting part is the bridge, where the key seems to change briefly before changing back without me even noticing. This is a pro move.

One Way transitions into Days Lie Dormant via a voicemail by Josh (joicemail). I've complained in my review of Clancy about the abrupt transition from The Craving to Lavish, and either (1) they read my blog, or (2) someone else who had the same complaint talked to them.

I consider the Center Mass - Cottonwood - One Way trio the pinnacle of tøp's songwriting capabilities.

Days Lie Dormant¶

Jenna Song. It is chaotic and energetic, I could have believed that iDKHOW wrote it (it has SUNNYSIDE vibes).

Tally¶

Once again, a penultimate song caught my attention (see ATROFD). It's stupidly catchy, yet so meaningful (despite a slightly cheesy chorus). My favorite moment is the high note in the bridge ("just figured you were keeping traaaaaaaaaack"), which really pushes the B side to a climax.

My comment in group chat:

Prepare for consequences if they don't play it live

They did not play it in the Cincy show, but they later debuted it in Hershey. On the second show where they played it live, the autotune broke spectacularly in the bridge, resulting in the aforementioned high note to shake uncontrollably, Travis Scott style. tøp apologists will defend the boys by saying this is intentional, because they "let [us] down", yet we "believe [them] somehow".

Drag Path (bonus track on Digital Remain)¶

Honestly the Digital Remain is a clever move. $8 is quite affordable for a digital download, and guess what, no DRM!

This bonus track is in-lore. The lyrics were teased in the Clancy Digital Remain booklet. It was their second time rhyming "purpose" with "surface" (after Kitchen Sink).

There's time changes:

• (4×4+2+4)/4
• 6/8
• 4/4

Also, Josh sings the backing vocals toward the end.

Overall¶

End of the Dema lore¶

Thus ends the Dema story, conceived maybe 2017 and born with Trench, 2018-10-05. Now it is revealed that the Dema lore is a cycle, each iteration with its own Clancy and different bishops, but maybe the same Torchbearer (Josh). This makes the storyline distinct from "happily ever after" stories.

Progressiveness¶

I've been a fan of prog rock and I've always wished tøp would do prog rock sometime. Turns out there are prog elements hidden in Breach already:

• RAWFEAR has tempo changes
• Downstairs has a key change
• One Way has a bridge that sounds to me like a key change
• Drag Path has time changes

Breach vs. Trench¶

Trench has been my favorite album for a long time, but Breach is at least on par. I like Trench because of its consistent texture: subdued and underground. Breach inherits the depth of Trench, but has a few distinctions:

• Has more pop-adjacent songs
• Has less lore
• Lyrics are more mature and upfront
• Has more collabs
• Drums are more aggressive
• Is more progressive
• Jocals

Plus, it also dropped in a very special phase of my life, and like with Trench, I am forming an emotional bond with Breach.

Thus, I officially name Breach and Trench my two favorite albums.