Twenty One Pilots’ terrific new ‘Trench’ is as good as breakthrough ‘Blurryface’

Twenty One Pilots’ new album “Trench” (Fueled By Ramen) is every bit as good as its hugely successful 2015 breakthrough “Blurryface.”

Every song on “Blurryface” went gold, platinum or multiplatinum — the first album to do so in history. That’s tough to top. But if anyone’s going to, it’s these two guys from Ohio — vocalist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun.

“Trench” is the 14-track, fifth album from the duo (with songwriting help from Paul Meany). And it’s every bit as good as “Blurryface,” continuing the band’s genre-bending trademark of tackling various styles and showcasing a knack for songwriting.

Twenty One Pilots — coming to Chicago for a sold-out show Oct. 17 at the United Center — open “Trench” with the throbbing bass line of “Jumpsuit,” filled with insecurity in the lyrics (“I can’t believe how much I hate/ Pressures of a new place roll my way”).

Then, it’s on to Dun’s kinetic drumming on “Levitate,” followed by a blissed-out and terrific “Morph” and The Killers-like, falsetto-fueled “My Blood.”

Later, there’s the reggae-tinged “Nico and the Niners,” the ’80s-sounding “The Hype” and the complex, constantly shifting “Bandito.”

We reach peak Twenty One Pilots on “Pet Cheetah,” an exhilarating and daffy tune that name-checks Jason Statham as it mixes techno, rap and rock, along with a healthy dose of reggae and house. No one out there makes music as thrilling as this.

“Trench” is a more low-key album than “Blurryface” — “Cut My Lip” and “Neon Gravestones” are slow-burners. And Joseph and Dun show maturity in not overworking songs. The last track, “Leave the City,” is a piano-driven gem with understated drumming and ghostly vocals.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Pilots record without opaque lyrics that connect the songs and the album to a larger fantasy narrative that’s spooled out over several albums and onto websites. We’ll leave all those clues — references to Dema and the bishops and Nicolas Bourbaki — to the fans on Reddit.

“Trench” finds Joseph in a confident mood lyric-wise, even mocking songwriting itself. “Chorus, verse, chorus, verse/ Now here comes the eight,” he sings on “Levitate.” On “Smithereens,” he croons: “For you, I’d go write a slick song just to show you the world.”

He’s done that. He’s made another album full of them.