Twenty One Pilots, “Clancy.”

The first four words of Twenty One Pilots‘ seventh album, Clancy, define the narrative the band has been developing for nearly a decade. Referencing the primary protagonist, the latest chapter is the final piece of a pseudo-concept album series that’s stretched back to 2015’s Blurryface.

“Welcome back to to trench,” sings a deep voice leading in to opening track “Overcompensate.”

“Trench” is the conceptual world developed by vocalist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun. Luckily, it’s entirely possible to listen to, and enjoy, Twenty One Pilots’ discography without knowing the lore and narrative. Clancy feels like a return for the duo, who went in a very different direction on 2021’s Scaled and Icy. That record was written during the height of the pandemic and reflects that isolation and solitude, but Twenty One Pilots thrive when they can strut around with a chip on their shoulder.

That swagger is immediately evident on “Overcompensate,” which has all the hallmarks of a Twenty One Pilots track, from Joseph’s wordy rapped/sung flow to Dun’s quick-strike drumming. The song marries dramatics with self-referential lyrics that sometime feel conversational.

“Days feel like the perfect length/ I don’t need them any longer but for goodness sake/ Do the years feel way too short for my soul, corazon?” Joseph asks.

While “Overcompensate” sets the tone, it doesn’t define the musical direction of the album. The boppy “Next Semester” has a punk-like drive with its rhythm section, building into an atmospheric alt-rocker. Joseph brings back the flows on slow jam “Backslide,” a relaxed song that delivers on the singalong chorus.

Fans of the band’s earliest work should really dig the piano-driven “Midwest Indigo,” which falls somewhere between Vessel and Scaled and Icy. The piano gives way to a soaring synth and powerful upbeat drumming by Dun.

“I want love and sunny days/ I’m a bit too old to run away/ You make me sad and second-guess myself/ You can be so cold,” Joseph sings.

One of the album’s highlights is the dark and sly insomniac anthem “Routines in the Night,” on which Joseph’s lyrics roll off the tongue, over an understated looped beat and synths.

“While all the world’s asleep/ I walk around instead/ Through the memories/ Down the halls in my head,” Joseph announces.

Clancy’s best attribute is its unpredictability. Some tracks sound how fans would expect from Twenty One Pilots but others very much don’t. “Vignette” brings back the personality of Vessel with its stew of big beats, rhymes and melody, though the duo adds an organ synth for good measure.

At the halfway point, Joseph pays tribute to his wife, Jenna, on acoustic ballad “The Craving (Jenna’s Version).” The song is sweet, simple and stripped-down, especially compared to the rest of the album. After this, the album gets more adventurous and Twenty One Pilots take more risks. “Lavish” blends Joseph’s rapped verses with chopped orchestral strings and tight backbeat. It sounds like weird fit on this album—at first; before locking in and making more sense. “Navigating” brings back the punk/alt-rock sound, but with a nod to ‘80s pop. Actually, it sounds almost like Devo!

The slower, atmospheric “Snap Back” offers verses that lean closer to spoken than sung, while the lyrics reference some of the other material on the album: “It’s a backslide/ I hate the surprise/ And now it’s all gone.”

The mid-tempo, nostalgic “Oldies Station” plays it cool before the band brings back the note on the raw “At the Risk of Feeling Dumb.” Clancy and the Trench story sails off into the sunset, both literally and figuratively on the soaring “Paladin Strait.” At six and a half minutes, the song includes a hidden postscript full of references to characters from past albums before an abrupt cut at the end.

Follow writer Mike DeWald at Twitter.com/mike_dewald.