KING YOSEF - "Lichen"

KING YOSEF: "Lichen" music video honors Portland scene; new album Spire of Fear out today; US tour with Youth Code begins

With the new album, Spire of Fear, out today on Bleakhouse, industrial-hardcore powerhouse King Yosef has released the official music video for the album's third single, "Lichen."

The video features appearances by close friends and collaborators from King Yosef mastermind Tayves Yosef Pelletier's hometown scene in Portland, Oregon.

Fittingly, Pelletier has described Spire of Fear as "a community-based record," stating: "Spire of Fear is influenced by Portland, because I am inspired by my friends. Between the time you spend together hanging out, going to each other’s shows or being at the studio when each of us record, it sort of all bleeds together into this amazing thing that creates a sound for where we are at. Portland’s DIY scene is consistently growing and transforming into the best version of itself I have seen since moving here 10 years ago."

Stream the "Lichen" video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WofWErxXK8

Stream Spire of Fear, here: https://kingyosef.bandcamp.com/album/spire-of-fear

Buy King Yosef music and merch, here: https://www.kingyosef.com/merch

Within the past two years, Pelletier has transformed King Yosef from a bedroom project into a formidable live act, completing North American tours with the likes of Converge and HEALTH and venturing to Australia, Japan, Europe and the UK.

Recorded at GodCity Studio with Kurt Ballou, Spire of Fear marks the next chapter. Comprising King Yosef's most gentle and most lethal work to date, the album synthesizes Pelletier's wide array of influences, a list that includes artists ranging from Godflesh and Nails, to Portishead and The Stone Roses. Where the previous album, An Underlying Hum, dug into Pelletier's own personal story, Spire of Fear looks beyond the self, toward broader human experience.

A new review from The Wire states: "For the past several years, Portland based producer Tayves Yosef Pelletier has been releasing punishing rap metal under the moniker King Yosef. Released on his own Bleakhouse imprint, Spire of Fear leads with thunderous screams, crushing drums (live and electronic) and pulverizing distortion that feels a bit like a trip through an industrial meat tenderizer... Meanwhile the interjection of smooth sections with almost ballad-style vocals invite comparisons with Nine Inch Nails – with all the mastery of craft that implies."

With Spire of Fear out now, King Yosef embarks on the "Industrial Worship Tour," a coast-to-coast tour of the US, alongside Youth Code, Street Sects, and Insula Iscariot. Following the tour, King Yosef will perform at Bleakfest, the annual music festival organized by Pelletier in his hometown of Portland, followed by two West Coast dates with the mighty Author & Punisher.

Youth Code, King Yosef, Street Sects, Insula Iscariot:

Aug 16 - Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou's
Aug 18 - Midvale, UT @ The Pearl on Main
Aug 19 - Denver, CO @ HQ
Aug 21 - St Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Aug 23 - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
Aug 24 - Ferndale, MI @ Loving Touch
Aug 26 - Cambridge, MA @ Sonia
Aug 27 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Meadows
Aug 28 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Aug 29 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
Aug 31 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
Sep 02 - Dallas, TX @ RBC
Sep 03 - Austin, TX @ 29th Street Ballroom
Sep 05 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rosetta
Sep 06 - Las Vegas, NV @ Backstage Bar
Sep 07 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex

Bleakfest Vol. 2:

Sep 13 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre

Author & Punisher, King Yosef:

Nov 12 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Nov 13 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah

Photo by Harper King

SOMETHING IS WAITING - Livelick

SOMETHING IS WAITING: Chicago "nu roll" juggernaut announces Livelick live album on Learning Curve Records 

From Chicago, Illinois, Something Is Waiting announces the October 24th release of Livelick on Learning Curve Records.

Recorded at a headlining show at the world-famous Empty Bottle in Chicago in 2023, Livelick captures one entire Something Is Waiting set, start to finish, with absolutely no edits or overdubs.

Leave it to Something is Waiting to release a live album in 2025. Always the outlier, Something Is Waiting has once again gone against the grain. In an era where live content has been exponentially devalued, thanks to an endless flood of casual phone clips, Something Is Waiting has chosen to deliver an official, old-school live album, in the tradition of the greats, from Bob Seger's Live Bullet to Pantera's Official Live: 101 Proof.

Pre-order Livelick, here: https://somethingiswaiting.bandcamp.com/album/livelick

Stream the album's first single, "Get Your Gimmicks (Live)," here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbFjGOa2S8g

Skating a line between noise rock and heavy metal, Something Is Waiting is the primary purveyor of its own self-proclaimed genre, "nu roll" – described by Invisible Oranges as "glam-infused noise rock" and by Kerrang! as "the shrieky, sleazy, crust-glam you crave."

Hard, nasty, and weird, Something Is Waiting carves its own strange path, explained accurately by The Chicago Reader with these words: "On their first few releases they focused on big, mean, chaos-bringing noise rock a la Unsane. Over the past few years, though, they’ve charted a new direction, trading in nihilistic bludgeoning for Sunset Strip swagger forged with a sonic sledgehammer of '90s metal... A bizarre hybrid of White Zombie and Guns N’ Roses, pairing high-gloss metallic guitar with [vocalist Eddie] Gobbo’s shrill, confrontational shrieks."

To complicate matters further, Gobbo is a wildly creative lyricist who conjures surreal scenarios with the euphoric wordplay of a Beat poet. His critiques, pointed at an array of targets, from the music industry to society at large, are thick with sarcasm and pop culture references, and his lyrical style takes more from rap than it does from AmRep.

Initially a quintet, Something Is Waiting operates as a trio now, consisting solely of Gobbo, drummer Idin Alexzander, and guitarist William T. Fay. Livelick captures this 3-piece lineup, fully dominating in the live setting. Livelick reveals Something Is Waiting to be a lethally tight live band, replicating its album sounds faithfully and rocking with steamroller energy. Gobbo howls and prowls with utter conviction; Alexzander pounds with power and grace; Fay does the work of three musicians, using a custom live rig to create ripping lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and bass sounds.

The Livelick setlist consists of all eight songs from 2023's Absolutely album, plus one song from each of the two preceding albums – 2019's Songs from the Sally Beauty Pavilion and 2016's The Something Is Waiting Band. The live soundboard audio was mixed by engineer (and former SIW bandmate) Pete Grossmann at Bricktop Recording (Weekend Nachos, Frail Body). In addition to the audio, the entire set was immortalized on video, with video editing handled by mastering engineer Blake Bickel (Bronson Arm).

Says Gobbo: "We began at a time when singles and YouTube clips began usurping full length LPs and actually going to see the band live. We hated that. Sadly, that was the tip of an iceberg and it’s actually gone more in the other direction since. But we haven’t flinched. This is not a studio project. This is a live band. We make studio records in order to get new ammo for our live show. We want people to listen to our shit in order to ultimately come see us live."

Tracklist:
1) The SIW Nu Roll Pinball Machine (Live)
2) Unholy Alliance (Live)
3) House of Style (Live)
4) In the Pool (Wetworld) (Live)
5) Lick the Spoon (Live)
6) Full Friction (Live)
7) Get Your Gimmicks (Live)
8) Poster Boys (Live)
9) Lost in Space (Live)
10) New Lows in Hell (Live)

Lineup:
Eddie Gobbo - vocals
William T. Fay - guitar, bass
Idin Alexzander - drums

Discography:

Livelick (2025, Learning Curve Records)

Absolutely (2023, Learning Curve Records)

Songs from the Sally Beauty Pavilion (2019, Learning Curve Records)

The Something Is Waiting Band (2016, The Path Less Traveled Records)

Photo by Brian Santostefano

IN LIEU - Hooligan

IN LIEU: Minneapolis noise rockers get primal on Learning Curve Records debut Hooligan; first single "Godfucker" streaming now

Learning Curve Records announces the October 24th release of Hooligan, the new album by In Lieu.

Stream the music video for the album's first single, "Godfucker," here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jglo4te40ms

Pre-order the album, here: https://inlieuminneapolis.bandcamp.com/album/hooligan

From Minneapolis, Minnesota, In Lieu deals in bite-sized anthems, mixing the austerity and belligerence of noise rock with the soaring tunefulness of grunge. Fronted by vocalist/guitarist Nikii Post, the quartet crafts brief bangers out of sludgy and discordant guitars, pummeling drums, and spellbinding vocals. Post fully captivates with her desperate, throaty screams, occasionally revealing the radiant singing voice that lies behind it.

At just 1:22 in length, first single "Godfucker" is a short, sharp burst of feeling, like a wave swelling out of nowhere and crashing on a hapless beach. It is no exception: the majority of the songs on Hooligan clock in at under two minutes each.

Many bands sound like they are playing a bunch of songs they wrote and rehearsed; a select few emit something so natural and confident and cohesive and convincing, it hits more like pure communication than like songcraft. In these rare cases, the band is one united force and the music is a matter of life or death. On Hooligan, as captured by engineer Adam Tucker at Signaturetone Recording (Thou, Primitive Man), In Lieu presents itself as precisely this type of band.

"We tend to lean into our most primal feelings and our music tends to remind me of an animal backed into a corner and the only option left is to bite," says Post.

Interestingly, In Lieu began as something else entirely. A gradual evolution of style, from quiet to loud, has brought Post to where she is today. "I started the band nine years ago and wrote all the material but was never happy with a release until this new one," she states. "Hooligan is the first album I've been proud of and it took nine years of trying. I played acoustic at first but I always knew that quiet music wasn't going to cut it for me. Eventually, the Melvins album Houdini made me want to play the way I do now."

"Our main influences are Melvins, Soundgarden, and a lot of the Amphetamine Reptile bands like Cows, Jawbox, Unsane, and The Jesus Lizard," she reveals. "We've been at Caterwaul [the annual Minneapolis festival co-founded by Learning Curve Records boss Rainer Fronz] every year, watching these bands and have played the last two years of the fest, completely awestruck by bands like Chat Pile and Whores."

It took nine years of searching and reinvention for Post to find her sound and, now that she has found it, In Lieu is thriving. Twin Cities music authority Racket named the quartet as one of its "Poised to Pop" bands for 2025 and the band has become a regular name on significant shows around town – in addition to Caterwaul, recent bills include legends such as Scream, Soulside, and God Bullies.

Along with the music, the lyrics have evolved. "We were never politically oriented before, but we figured an album this loud better have something to say," quips Post. "Hooligan is an album about abusing power. Love, drugs, religion, authority figures of various kinds... We consider these songs to be 'fight songs' against those powers."

Tracklist:
1) Petz
2) Godfucker
3) Hooligan
4) Mule
5) Hail Mary
6) Christian Singles
7) Bully
8) Gremlin
9) Torrent
10) Traitor

Shows:
Aug 30 - Minneapolis, MN @ Zhora Darling
Nov 1 - Minneapolis, MN @ Mortimer's (record release show)

Lineup:
Nikii Post - vocals, guitar
Kyle Adams - guitar
Sam Claeys - bass
Mano Holgin - drums

Photo by Sam Bramble

Cover art by Shelby Miller

Out today: KING YOSEF - Spire of Fear

Spire of Fear, the new album by King Yosef, is out today on Bleakhouse.

Stream Spire of Fear, here: https://kingyosef.bandcamp.com/album/spire-of-fear

Buy King Yosef music and merch, here: https://www.kingyosef.com/merch

Initially earning acclaim as a hip-hop producer, Oregon native 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, he has gradually perfected a searing brand of industrialized hardcore that marries electronic and metallic elements in stunning fashion and seeks catharsis through deeply personal lyrics. 

Within the past two years, Pelletier has transformed King Yosef from a bedroom project into a formidable live act, completing North American tours with the likes of Converge and HEALTH and venturing to Australia, Japan, Europe and the UK.

Recorded at GodCity with Kurt Ballou, Spire of Fear marks the next chapter. Comprising King Yosef's most gentle and most lethal work to date, the album synthesizes Pelletier's wide array of influences, a list that includes artists ranging from Godflesh and Nails, to Portishead and The Stone Roses. Where the previous album, An Underlying Hum, dug into Pelletier's own personal story, Spire of Fear looks beyond the self, toward broader human experience.

With Spire of Fear out now, King Yosef embarks on the "Industrial Worship Tour," a coast-to-coast tour of the US, alongside Youth Code, Street Sects, and Insula Iscariot. Following the tour, King Yosef will perform at Bleakfest, the annual music festival organized by Pelletier in his hometown of Portland, followed by two West Coast dates with the mighty Author & Punisher.

Youth Code, King Yosef, Street Sects, Insula Iscariot:

Aug 16 - Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou's
Aug 18 - Midvale, UT @ The Pearl on Main
Aug 19 - Denver, CO @ HQ
Aug 21 - St Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Aug 23 - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
Aug 24 - Ferndale, MI @ Loving Touch
Aug 26 - Cambridge, MA @ Sonia
Aug 27 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Meadows
Aug 28 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Aug 29 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
Aug 31 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
Sep 02 - Dallas, TX @ RBC
Sep 03 - Austin, TX @ 29th Street Ballroom
Sep 05 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rosetta
Sep 06 - Las Vegas, NV @ Backstage Bar
Sep 07 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex

Bleakfest Vol. 2:

Sep 13 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre

Author & Punisher, King Yosef:

Nov 12 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Nov 13 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah

–––––––

"Always known for ambitious takes on industrial metalcore, King Yosef has perhaps never sounded more bold... With breakdowns through caverns of glitch, disgusting percussion and synthesisers that make guitars sound like pure parody, there’s every indication that Spire of Fear will be a watershed album for King Yosef."
–Boolin Tunes

"Portland industrialist King Yosef has announced a new album, Spire of Fear... The first single is the bone-crushingly heavy."
–BrooklynVegan

"King Yosef... is a powerhouse of industrial ferocity leading the pack of modern industrial acts and and has a league with the likes of HEALTH, 3TEETH, Poppy, and Author & Punisher."
–Brutal Resonance

"A brutal, genre-blurring sound, fusing the punishing intensity of metallic hardcore with the textures of industrial and modern electronica."
–Destroy//Exist

"Written, produced, and performed by Portland-based artist Tayves Yosef Pelletier, Spire of Fear represents a full turn in the evolution of King Yosef. Where earlier records filtered industrial and hardcore through the lens of personal trauma, this new work signals a broader, outward-facing gaze."
–Idioteq

"Showcasing hardcore DNA with a throbbing, electronic pulse, the album is a potent concoction of pummeling percussion, urgent glitch and assaultive electronic elements that strike like a molotov. Having the audacity to fuse the hostility of hardcore with everything from EBM, downtempo and Y2K-era metal, Yosef's ability to merge those worlds seamlessly makes Spire of Fear something extra special."

–Knotfest

"Experimental industrial noise artist King Yosef will release his new album Spire of Fear on August 15th through his own label Bleakhouse. The upcoming LP sees the hip hop-rooted producer continue his evolution into harsher sonic territory."
–Lambgoat

"5/5. This is a sonic boom of an album... This is an instant boner-maker. The sound of this album is ridiculous... Crushing, intense, dynamic, totally absorbing."
–Metal Epidemic

"A cult favorite in both the industrial and underground hardcore scenes, King Yosef—real name Tayves Yosef Pelletier — has built a reputation on merging savage metallic textures with deeply personal, emotionally raw lyrics... Performing at Roadburn 2024 and touring with the likes of Converge and HEALTH, his evolution into a commanding live force has been meteoric."
–Metal Injection

"Dark, heavy, discordant, the new track certainly hits hard. It’s a hell of an opening salvo for the new record."
–MetalSucks

"King Yosef, aka Tayves Yosef Pelletier, has done it all, from hip-hop producer to tearing it up with the likes of Converge and HEALTH."
–New Noise

"The album, recorded and mixed by Kurt Ballou, is an abrasive, disorienting and relentless listen with vocals that sound like they’re giving voice to the accelerated and amplified collective outrage over current world events with a direct personal resonance..."
–Queen City Sounds and Art

"Redefining the parameters of noisy industrial with a distinct hardcore punk edge."
–ReGen

"For the past several years, Portland based producer Tayves Yosef Pelletier has been releasing punishing rap metal under the moniker King Yosef. Released on his own Bleakhouse imprint, Spire of Fear leads with thunderous screams, crushing drums (live and electronic) and pulverizing distortion that feels a bit like a trip through an industrial meat tenderizer... Meanwhile the interjection of smooth sections with almost ballad-style vocals invite comparisons with Nine Inch Nails – with all the mastery of craft that implies."
–The Wire

"This is horror movie music. I’m not even gonna try to bullshit through this because there’s nothing I can say about King Yosef that comes close to conveying his essence better than his music does. You just have to experience it."
–VICE

"Independent artist, basically crafted his own sound, which is this combination of industrial metal and rock and hardcore and some electronic, ambient aspects... Very cool."
–Whatever Comes Next

–––––––

Photo by Harper King

HEAVY HALO - "Lies"

HEAVY HALO: NYC alt-industrial stars complete Light Asylum tour, release "Lies" music video

With the new Heavy Halo album, Damaged Dream, released last month on Silent Pendulum Records, and with the Brooklyn alt-industrial duo having just completed an East Coast tour with Light Asylum, vocalist/guitarist McKeever and producer Gosteffects have released the official music video for "Lies," one of the new album's many anthemic tracks.

Stream the "Lies" video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cT2jNNgGvw

Buy Damaged Dream, here: https://silentpendulumrecords.com/collections/heavy-halo

Based in Brooklyn, New York, Heavy Halo creates industrialized alt-rock anthems that explore the lines between human vulnerability and electronic power. Revolver Magazine has praised the band's "chunky riffs and EBM-panicked beatwork" and "nihilistic yet melodic vocals," while Post-Punk.com has stated: "The ghosts of ‘90s rebellion flicker in its DNA, yet its spirit is welded to the digital age, where raw emotion fuses with cold machinery."

Heavy Halo's McKeever says this about "Lies": "'Lies' is about being the toxic person in a relationship, straight up. The lyrics came from the idea of wanting to write verses that asked questions I already knew the answers to. 'Am I the one who bleeds your youth and energy?' 'Am I a cold machine, heartless underneath?' 'Lies' is riddled with regret, it’s an elegy for a romance dead and buried. But with the acknowledgment of your flaws and shadow self, there still is the future and the chance to do better. Hope crawls out of Pandora’s Box at the end of the nightmare."

The "Lies" music video was directed by Heavy Halo's Gosteffects and stars ballet dancer Sofie Na’ama Hans. Gosteffects gives this statement on the significance of the interpretive dance in the video: "Her movements escalate from contemplative to frenetic as her psychodrama plays out and her visions spiral into chaos. The lines between reality and dreams smudge as she wrestles with shame and deception, ultimately returning to the same place she started but forever transformed inside."

Photo by Tori McGraw

OvO - Gemma

OvO: Italian iconoclasts to release 11th album "Gemma" via Artoffact Records

Italian iconoclasts OvO present their eleventh studio album, Gemma, out October 3rd via Artoffact Records.

Stream the album's first single, "Opale" (featuring Lord Spikeheart), stream the album's second single, "Stagno," and pre-order the album, here: https://ovomusic.bandcamp.com/album/gemma

Translated from Italian as "gem" and also as "the bud of a plant," Gemma sees OvO founders Stefania Pedretti and Bruno Dorella continue down their long, twisting path of perpetual reinvention. Described as "a manifesto of transformation" and recorded in the wake of Pedretti's successful battles with cancer and encephalitis, Gemma marks the eccentric and mercurial duo's 25th year in action.

With well over 1,000 shows played since its formation in 2000, and a slew of recordings released, OvO is a singular force in the underground. Taking inspiration from the likes of Suicide, Swans, and Diamanda Galas, Pedretti and Dorella pound out a mix of what Stereogum has described as "music – rhythmic noise, really – owing equal debts to extreme metal, noise rock, industrial music, and dark electronica." Decibel Magazine has hailed the band's sound as “a David Lynch dance party.”

A quarter-century into their journey, Pedretti and Dorella deliver Gemma, a masterpiece of dance-doom, where the electronic and analog realms intertwine in music that manages to exude inhuman coldness and smoldering passion, simultaneously. Stark beats, primitive synths, sludgy guitars, and Pedretti's otherworldly vocalizations – haunting and, sometimes, harrowing – combine in Gemma's indelible songs.

Alan Dubin, lead shrieker of avant-metal legends Khanate, gives the album his seal of approval, stating: “Gemma oozes like a wound that refuses to heal, pulsing with beauty, rot, and rebirth. OvO haven’t just made an album — they’ve summoned a living, screaming thing from the raw meat of existence.”

Gemma's first single, "Opale," features the vocals of Kenyan techno-metal phenom Lord Spikeheart, a kindred spirit whose work, like OvO's, gleefully smashes boundaries between genres. On "Opale," ethereal coos and maniacal screams intertwine against an apocalyptically hard electro beat. Gemma's second single, "Stagno," hooks the ear and hypnotizes the mind, by way of an insistent double-bass rhythm, euphoric riff, and Pedretti's distorted howl.

According to Pedretti and Dorella: "Gemma is a reflection on change. Gemma is metamorphosis, a challenge to immobility. It is an artistic gesture that aims to redraw the boundaries, to go beyond what has already been heard, towards new sound horizons. Each track is an act of creation, an alchemical passage through the elements toward a form of new weird life that blossoms, explodes, and changes."

Eternal road dogs, OvO will tour Europe extensively throughout the fall.

Tracklist:

1) Gemma

2) Stagno

3) Opale

4) Iridio

5) Diamante

6) Orocromo

7) Cobalto

8) Zolfo

9) Neon

10) Rame

11) Fossile

Lineup:

Stefania Pedretti - vocals, guitar
Bruno Dorella - drums, samples, synth

Guests:

Lord Spikeheart - additional vocals on "Opale"
Paige A. Flash - cello on "Diamante"

Production:
Recorded and mixed by Marcello Batelli at Aproblema Studio
Mastered by Giovanni Versari

Discography:
Gemma (2025, Artoffact Records)
Ignoto (2022, Artoffact Records)
Miasma (2020, Artoffact Records)
Creatura (2016, Dio Drone)
Abisso (2013, Supernatural Cat)
Cor Cordium (2011, Supernatural Cat)
Crocevia (2008, Load)
Miastenia (2006, Load)
Cicatrici (2004, Bar La Muerte)
Vae Victis (2002, Bar La Muerte)
Assassine (2001, Bar La Muerte)

Tour:
Aug 15 - Brescia, IT @ Area Feste
Sep 01 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique
Oct 03 - Castiglione Delle Stiviere, IT @ Arci Dallò
Oct 04 - Milano, IT @ Arci Bellezza
Oct 11 - Firenze, IT @ CPA
Oct 24 - Modena, IT @ Kalinka Arci Dude
Oct 25 - Padova, IT @ Pedro
Nov 07 - Pesaro, IT @ Arci Artigiana
Nov 08 - Taranto, IT @ Mercato Nuovo
Nov 09 - Bologna, IT @ Improved Sequence Festival
Nov 14 - Asti, IT @ Diavolo Rosso
Nov 15 - Imperia, IT @ La Talpa E L'Orologio
Nov 27 - Paris, FR @ Les Instants Chavirès
Nov 28 - Clermont-Ferrand, FR @ Raymond
Nov 29 - Lyon, FR @ Grrrnd Zero
Nov 30 - Basel, CH @ Mental Load Agency
Dec 01 - Zurich, CH @ Boschbar
Dec 02 - Freiburg, DE @ Slow Club
Dec 03 - Kortrijk, BE @ The Pit's
Dec 04 - Namur, BE @ Belvedere
Dec 05 - Utrecht, NL @ Moira
Dec 07 - Aalborg, DK @ 1000 Fryd
Dec 08 - Copnhagen, DK @ Rahuset
Dec 09 - Leipzig, DE @ Zxrx
Dec 10 - Berlin, DE @ Neue Zukunft
Dec 11 - Plzen, CZ @ Pod Lampou
Dec 12 - Maribor, SL @ Pekarna
Dec 13 - Wien, AT @ EKH
Dec 14 - Zagreb, HR @ Mocvara
Dec 15 - Ljubljana, SL @ Channel Zero
Dec 19 - Roma, IT @ Forte Prenestino

Cover art by Nero Atto
Photo by Annapaola Martin

KING YOSEF x GodCity

KING YOSEF: Converge's Kurt Ballou stars in "Spire of Fear" making-of-the-album mini-doc

With the release of the new album, Spire of Fear, set for Friday, August 15th, King Yosef has posted a "making of the album" mini-doc, revealing a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the recording process.

Shot on location at GodCity Studio during the Spire of Fear recording session, the mini-doc features interviews with GodCity proprietor and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, along with King Yosef himself (né Tayves Yosef Pelletier) and drummer Kameron Tyler.

Topics discussed include: the balance between electronics and analog instruments, the evolution of lyrical themes, the impact that touring has made on the new material, and more.

Ballou, who has recorded much of King Yosef's output to date, and whose band Converge handpicked King Yosef to tour with them in 2024, states: "It's certainly exciting to work with Tayves... pushing the envelope of what is possible in aggressive music and what defines what it can be."

Stream the mini-doc, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp5cWVTo-Mk

Initially earning acclaim as a hip-hop producer, 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, he has gradually perfected a searing brand of industrialized hardcore that marries electronic and metallic elements in stunning fashion and seeks catharsis through deeply personal lyrics.

Within the past two years, Pelletier has transformed King Yosef from a bedroom project into a formidable live act, completing North American tours with the likes of Converge and HEALTH and venturing to Australia, Japan, Europe and the UK.

"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. Comprising King Yosef's most gentle and most lethal work to date, the album synthesizes Pelletier's wide array of influences, a list that includes artists ranging from Godflesh and Nails, to Portishead, Aphex Twin, and The Stone Roses.

Where the previous album, An Underlying Hum, dug into Pelletier's own personal story, Spire of Fear looks beyond the self, toward broader human experience: "Zooming out of the context of your own life, you realize that things have gone on before you and will go on after. So as long as you can face something head on and move through it, you’re probably going to be alright and the path shows itself from there."

Pre-order the album, here: https://www.kingyosef.com/merch

With Spire of Fear dropping August 15th on King Yosef's own label, Bleakhouse, Yosef will embark on the "Industrial Worship Tour," a coast-to-coast tour of the US, alongside Youth Code, Street Sects, and Insula Iscariot, that promises to be 2025's ultimate package of electronic-based devastation – a must-see for fans of the harder side of industrial and the more experimental side of hardcore. Following the tour, King Yosef will play Bleakhouse's annual festival, Bleakfest, followed by two West Coast dates with the mighty Author & Punisher.

"Industrial Worship Tour" – Youth Code, King Yosef, Street Sects, Insula Iscariot:

Aug 16 - Seattle, WA @ Madame Lou's
Aug 18 - Midvale, UT @ The Pearl on Main
Aug 19 - Denver, CO @ HQ
Aug 21 - St Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Aug 23 - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
Aug 24 - Ferndale, MI @ Loving Touch
Aug 26 - Cambridge, MA @ Sonia
Aug 27 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Meadows
Aug 28 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Aug 29 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
Aug 31 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
Sep 02 - Dallas, TX @ RBC
Sep 03 - Austin, TX @ 29th Street Ballroom
Sep 05 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rosetta
Sep 06 - Las Vegas, NV @ Backstage Bar
Sep 07 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex

Bleakfest Vol. 2:

Sep 13 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre

Author & Punisher, King Yosef:

Nov 12 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Nov 13 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah

Photo of King Yosef, by Harper King

Photo of Kurt Ballou, by Aldara Zarraoa

Out today: CAR BOMB - Tiles Whisper Dreams

Tiles Whisper Dreams, the new EP by Car Bomb, is out today.

Stream the album and buy it, here: https://carbomb.bandcamp.com/album/tiles-whisper-dreams-ep

Car Bomb's first new material since 2019, Tiles Whisper Dreams marks the New York band's 25th year in existence. Spiraling flurries of rhythm and texture congeal, fleetingly, into planet-pulverizing death-grooves and fragments of haunting melodies. Baffling rhythmic modulations and deep-space guitar effects appear to warp time completely. Disorientation is the rule, not the exception. A quarter-century into its career, Car Bomb remains in a league of its own. In the words of Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop): "The band is ultra creative and mind-blowingly, technically proficient, to pull off something of this magnitude... Car Bomb, in my opinion, has never sounded so good."

With the new EP out now, Car Bomb will tour the UK and Europe, including dates with Between The Buried And Me and Imperial Triumphant. (Sadly, an upcoming Australian tour with Animals As Leaders was cancelled due to an injury in the AAL camp.) Tourdates and complete album details are here: https://thechainworld.blogspot.com/2025/06/car-bomb-tiles-whisper-dreams.html

"Mathcore nerds, rejoice: the Brooklyn heavyweights have returned with their first new music six years."
–Bandcamp Daily

"Extreme... Chaotic."
–BrooklynVegan

"No one can write a song as extreme as Car Bomb. That’s because no other band can sound like them. In case there was a need to put that beyond a shadow of a doubt, their brand new EP, Tiles Whisper Dreams, is likely the most intense 12 minutes of music you’ll hear all year." 

–Crunchyroll

"Together now twenty-five years as a band, to describe the New York band Car Bomb in one simple moniker is impossible. The foundation may be mathcore, but you need to add everything from progressive to death groove elements..."
–Dead Rhetoric

"Frenetic, progressive-death-metal-meets-mathcore... [Tiles Whisper Dreams] is an impressive, albeit brief, continuation of Car Bomb‘s singular sound and career."
–Everything Is Noise

"Mathematical, metallic, incomprehensible music has made some serious headway since 2019, and with so many young bands pushing the envelope it’s incredible to hear generation-spanning bands like Car Bomb... continue to hone their great experiments."
–Fecking Bahamas

"A savage and uncompromising short-form release, Tiles Whisper Dreams bristles and seethes with all the elements of post-Hardcore, Metalcore, Mathcore, and Punk, smashing them together with pure, unadulterated intensity."

–Ghost Cult

"Car Bomb are back in full precision-strike mode. With the EP self-released this August and fresh material more brutal than ever, Car Bomb reaffirm their position as one of extreme music’s most forward-pushing forces."
–Idioteq

"Marking the 25th anniversary of the NYC collective and their first release in some six years, it is astounding that a band can still be producing at this level a generation into their careers. A dizzying meld of djent, prog and mathcore delivered with the technical prowess and unorthodox hand of free jazz... An absolute masterclass."

–Knotfest

"Chugging beatdowns, noodling insanity... If you’ve never turned the ignition for this group’s explosive tunes, this is the perfect firecracker in the tailpipe to get you started."
–Last Rites

"Extreme metal architects Car Bomb have returned... Coinciding with their 25th anniversary, Tiles Whisper Dreams promises to be both a celebration of Car Bomb’s boundary-pushing legacy and a bold leap forward into new sonic dimensions."
–Metal Injection

"Disorienting blastbeats, annihilating noodles... Pure disruption."
–MetalSucks

"Coffee is close by but not needed when you have something as explosive as the brand new single from Car Bomb."
–Nine Circles

"Car Bomb have established a well-deserved reputation for technically impressive but insanely chaotic music, ... The freakishly skittering and strangely squirming guitar work is batshit crazy; the drumming is explosive; the wide-ranging vocals are unhinged in their rendering of cynical and savage lyrics."
–No Clean Singing

"This isn’t just music that pummels you into a bloody pulp—it’s more like your entire being is atomized and scattered into the cold, indifferent void... Car Bomb is carving their own path, and they are fully committed to their vision without any compromise whatsoever."
–(The) Greg Kennelty

"Insane combination of off-kilter, crazy time signature riffs and grooves... Absolutely nuts. The band is ultra creative and mind-blowingly, technically proficient, to pull off something of this magnitude... Car Bomb, in my opinion, has never sounded so good."
–The Needle Drop

"A quarter of a century – that’s how long Car Bomb are now together. Such an anniversary of course demands for some new music and that’s what we will be getting on Friday, August 1 with their new EP, Tiles Whisper Dreams.”
–Veil of Sound

"Whether you want to call them experimental metal, or mathcore, or progressive metal, New York's Car Bomb don't sound quite like anyone else."
–Whatever Comes Next

Photo by Devin Barnes