American alternative duo Twenty One Pilots released the latest single from their upcoming album Trench. The track, “My Blood,” carries elements of Twenty One Pilots’ recent and older music, but doesn’t give much of a clear picture of their future.
“My Blood” is an uplifting message wrapped in catchy, toe-tapping music and decent vocals. It’s clear that vocalist Tyler Joseph, 29, and drummer Joshua Dun, 30, know what their often emotionally fragile fans need to hear: that they’re never alone. However, the track is almost lazy in relaying this message. The two main refrains in the track, “I’ll go with you” and “Stay with me, my blood / You don’t need to run,” are sung in a high, almost whiny tone which leaves the listener wishing the lyrics were being screamed at them rather than simpered.
The instrumentals and repetitive lyrics in the track are similar to those found on the band’s critically acclaimed 2015 album Blurryface. While this isn’t a bad thing, the duo would probably benefit from drawing more on the grand metaphors, passionate vocals and trippy synths of 2013’s Vessel. The brief rap verse where Joseph promises to defend the listener from harm is the most interesting part of the song because it sounds more like the band’s earlier releases.
It’s cliche and often detrimental to tell a band they’re better off repeating the past than evolving, but in the case of Twenty One Pilots, that advice might pay off. Still, Joseph and Dun have managed to create another crowd-pleasing, hope-inspiring anthem that will no doubt rattle the walls of arenas nationwide.
Twenty One Pilots’ new album Trench will be released October 5th via Fueled By Ramen Records.