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