On May 21, 2025, nearly a year since the release of their previous studio album Clancy (2024), Twenty One Pilots announced a follow-up titled Breach. [1] [2] The announcement followed a series of cryptic clues and Easter eggs shared across social media and during the final shows of The Clancy World Tour. Among these Easter eggs were several bits of morse code scattered throughout the final letters of the Fan Premiere Exhibits. [3]
Breach continued the narrative arcs established in their previous works, particularly Blurryface (2015), Trench (2018), Scaled and Icy (2021), and Clancy. [4] The duo stated that the album would serve as the final installment in their decade-long "lore" first established in Blurryface, alluding to "Paladin Strait"—the closing track of Clancy—whose music video had acted as a cliff-hanger. [5] [6] Tyler Joseph previously teased the record in an interview, stating they were entering a "gap of nothingness" he could only describe as "not nothing". [7]
The artwork depicts the duo dressed in mostly black attire, similar to the cover art of Clancy, further supporting the idea of a continued narrative. [8] In announcing the album, Twenty One Pilots revealed that the lead single, "The Contract", would be released on June 12, 2025. [9] Following the announcement, the first pressings of Breach on vinyl and CD became available for pre-order. [10] The album was released on September 12. [11] On July 15, the album's track listing was revealed. [12] The second single, "Drum Show", was released on August 18, with "City Walls" following as the third on the parent album's release date. [13] "City Walls" was accompanied by a music video, which was described by Joseph as "the end of [the lore]". [14] On the same day, the band released Breach – Digital Remains, an online-only collection of new photos and "artifacts" in relation to the making of the album that includes a bonus song, "Drag Path". [15]
A 23-show North American concert tour, The Clancy Tour: Breach, was announced alongside the release of "The Contract". As an extension of the Clancy World Tour and supporting both Clancy and Breach, it commenced on September 18, 2025, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is scheduled to conclude on October 26 in Los Angeles, California. [16]
Composition
Breach has been described as alternative rock, [17] pop rock, [18] electropop, [17] and alternative hip hop. [17] The album was co-produced with longtime collaborator Paul Meany, and incorporates callbacks to the duo's previous albums, both lyrically and sonically. [19] Breach also experiments with electronic textures, major and minor scales, key changes, tempo changes, and subdued, piano-based arrangements. [19] [20]
It is the duo's first album to feature drummer Josh Dun as a vocalist; he contributes vocals on the bridge of "Drum Show". [21] He had previously sung background vocals on select songs during live performances, including for a 2022 episode of MTV Unplugged . In an interview with Clash , Dun described "Drum Show" as an exploration of his life through Joseph's perspective, which he found "interesting." [22]
Critical reception
The album received mostly positive reviews. Amrit Virdi of Clash praised Breach as a strong and appropriate conclusion to the duo's conceptual series, highlighting its lyrical callbacks, varied instrumentation, and maturity in sound. [20] Billboard 's Jason Lipshutz wrote that Breach offered some of the duo's "most bruising riffs and immediate hooks to date," climaxing with the centerpiece standout "Downstairs". [26]
In a less positive review, Hannah Jocelyn of Pitchfork called Breach a "maximalist pop-rock record that no one else could make, mostly because no one else would consider it." She also called the duo's "attempts at hip-hop frustrating". [18]
In the United States, Breach debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 200,000 album-equivalent units, consisting of 40.68 million on-demand streams and 169,000 pure album copies. It marked Twenty One Pilots' second number-one album in the country, following Blurryface, and the biggest opening week of their career, besting Trench. Breach also registered the largest debut for any rock album on the Billboard 200 since Tool's Fear Inoculum (2019), as well as the largest vinyl sales week for a rock album since tracking started in 1991. [27] All thirteen tracks from the album charted in at least the top 40 of the US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
Breach entered the OCC UK Albums Update at number two before its initial chart entry, [28] but debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart. [29] On the ARIA Albums Chart, it debuted at number two, making it their fourth consecutive top three album in Australia. [30] The album debuted at number one in Scotland [31] and the Netherlands. [32]
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