KING YOSEF "Spire Of Fear" LP

Initially earning acclaim as a hip-hop producer, Portland, Oregon-based auteur Tayves Yosef Pelletier has been self-releasing music under the King Yosef name since 2017.

Having worked with some of the most notorious rappers of the 2010s, he founded the King Yosef solo project as a space in which to explore his other musical obsessions. As King Yosef, Pelletier has been gradually perfecting a searing brand of industrialized hardcore that marries electronic and metallic elements in stunning fashion and seeks catharsis through deeply personal lyrics.

The passion and intensity have been on display since from the very start, expressed through a slew of self-released music, including a collaborative album with Youth Code and 2023's acclaimed An Underlying Hum, which Revolver Magazine championed as "a scathing onslaught of heavy hardcore chugs a la Code Orange and wire-sparking industrial-metal fuckery."

But, within the past two years, a transition has occurred; the intensity has ramped up sharply. Without a manager or booking agent, Pelletier transformed King Yosef from a bedroom project into a formidable live act, dominating stages across the globe. In the wake of An Underlying Hum's release, King Yosef completed North American tours with Converge and HEALTH and ventured to Australia, Japan, Europe and the UK.

Playing the coveted Roadburn in 2024, King Yosef received these words from the festival's organizers: "A dizzying yet coherent amalgam of sticky beats, chilling interludes and scathing vitriol... As a festival, we like to push boundaries and embrace heavy music in all its forms. We see a kindred spirit in King Yosef."

"The role of King Yosef in my life transformed," states Pelletier, "from a place I went when I was waiting for production projects to release, to becoming my main source of creative fulfillment." Now, in the summer of 2025, Spire of Fear marks the next chapter. Spire of Fear is the album that shows King Yosef to have progressed, from a mere project, to a full-fledged, full-time commitment.

Written, produced, and performed by Pelletier, Spire of Fear was recorded and mixed at the legendary GodCity Studio with longtime King Yosef collaborators Kurt Ballou and Zach Weeks. The album was mastered by Alan Douches.