Noise becomes weapon
Portland’s King Yosef (aka Tayves Pelletier) has been building a reputation as one of underground heavy music’s most uncompromising architects. Over the past decade, Yosef has blurred the lines between industrial, hardcore, metal, and hip-hop, carving out a space where confrontation and catharsis brutally collide.
From early collaborations with Youth Code and XXXTentacion to a relentless tour with iconic Converge, Yosef’s trajectory has been one of constant evolution. His 2023 breakout ‘An Underlying Hum’—produced by heavyweights Kurt Ballou (Code Orange, Ken Mode, Trap Them….) and Steve Evetts (Dillinger Escape Plan, Every Time I Die, Poison The Well…) —was a raw descent into trauma, memory, and noise.
Now, with the release of ‘Spire of Fear’ on his own imprint Bleak House Records, Yosef has delivered his most punishing and ambitious work to date.
The Shape of Fear to Come
From the unnerving opener “Feoil” to the crushing blast of “Molting Fear” ‘Spire of Fear’ feels like a collapsing labyrinth—chaotic, suffocating, and unrelenting. “Vi Coactus” and “Doomtown” charge into metallic hardcore madness, Yosef’s guttural roars cutting through synths that churn like industrial machinery in overload. Meanwhile, tracks such as “Lichen” and “Wither” tap into his industrial roots, evoking the mechanical dread of Author & Punisher before detonating into hardcore breakdowns.
This push-pull between abrasion and atmosphere keeps ‘Spire of Fear’ from being a blunt-force exercise. “Blue Morning” and “Walter” drift into ghostly shoegaze textures, while “Glimmer,” featuring Holy Fawn, injects eerie melodic tension, making the surrounding chaos hit even harder.
Industrial Hardcore, Redefined
Where Youth Code sharpened EBM into hardcore rage, and where Code Orange, Harm’s Way, and Candy twisted metallic hardcore into industrial extremes, Yosef pushes the hybrid into darker, more confrontational territory. ‘Spire of Fear’ is less groove-oriented than Ministry, more jagged and punishing in the spirit of John Cxnnor’s dystopian electronics. For fans of aforementioned bands but also Author & Punisher or Portishead (yes…), Yosef’s vision offers something darker, heavier, and unflinchingly forward-looking.
Fear as Weapon, Sound as Armor
Radically, with ‘Spire of Fear’, King Yosef weaponizes fear as both subject and sonic foundation. He strips industrial and hardcore to their barest elements and welds them back into something jagged, unyielding, and viscerally alive. At once culmination and new beginning, the album cements Yosef as one of heavy music’s most forward-pushing voices—an artist not interested in fitting into genre boxes, only in breaking them.
