Album Review: Blurryface

An album including six frightening songs, four jovial songs, four songs in-betweeen, and one song with a major reggae vibe? Sounds disastrous.

For duo band Twenty One Pilots, though? Not so much. This band’s discography has pretty much proven that anything is possible, from clashing grand pianos and synthesizers (“Implicit Demand For Proof” from Twenty One Pilots), to the smooth transitions from intensely horrifying raps to happy lyric-belts (“Ode To Sleep” from Vessel).

I personally expected Blurryface to live up to low expectations, being a let down compared to their previous albums (which are amazing). My initial impression was off of their first single, “Fairly Local,” which I didn’t have much of a liking too. “Tear in My Heart” followed little under a month after, which had much more of a pop sound, but still not something the band needed. What the band needed to release was some more “House of Gold”-like songs, or even something new that people haven’t considered liking.

Twenty One Pilot’s third single, “Stressed Out,” was a complete change from the prior singles. It wasn’t as awkward-sounding as “Fairly Local”; instead, it was interesting and had sort of an “Ode To Sleep” style to it that put the audience in some kind of trance.

Track 10, “We Don’t Believe What’s On TV,” and track 12, “Hometown,” are both in a battle between my personal favorite song off of the album. I mean, ukulele or high, echoing notes? That’s a difficult choice.

The album’s final song, “Goner,” is a well-written and heart-wrenching type of song, and it’s everything fans would expect as TOP’s iconic ‘let’s end the album with something great’ song.

As for the reggae atmosphere in “Ride”? It’s something the band needed to put in. It’s fun and interesting to listen to for the first time, and also something that the guys can pull off.