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.
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."
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.
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
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."
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."
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
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
KING YOSEF: industrial-hardcore phenom drops "Vi Coactus" single with live video; Youth Code tour approaches
"Vi Coactus," the new single by industrialized hardcore phenom King Yosef, is now streaming.
"Vi Coactus" is the second single to be released from Spire of Fear, the upcoming new King Yosef album, recorded and mixed at GodCity Studio with Converge's Kurt Ballou, and set to drop August 15th via King Yosef's own label, Bleakhouse.
Titled after a Latin term meaning "having been forced or coerced" – used commonly to indicate that a document was signed under duress – "Vi Coactus" is a devastating, metallic hardcore anthem that nods to the industrial swagger of Cleansing-era Prong.
"Direct, to the point, and heavier than it’s ever been, was the idea for this song," states Tayves Yosef Pelletier, the young vocalist, songwriter, and visionary behind King Yosef. "Contextualizing King Yosef in a way that makes it understandable to most heavy listeners, without compromising at all."
As for the meaning of the song, he reveals, "The lyrics try to drive an idea that, despite every way you can win, there's certain things you're born with. And even if you can beat them, your family might not. It's about showing up with acceptance and empathy."
The official "Vi Coactus" music video consists of live footage of King Yosef performing live at a union benefit show organized by Pelletier in his hometown of Portland, Oregon this year.
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. 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. 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."
With Spire of Fear dropping August 15th, King 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 own 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
Based in Brooklyn, New York, Heavy Halo consists of vocalist McKeever and producer Gosteffects. With metallic guitars, frenetic beats, and yearning vocals, the duo creates industrialized alt-rock anthems that explore the lines between human vulnerability and electronic power. The band is currently wrapping up an East Coast US tour with darkwave phenom Light Asylum.
"One hell of an enjoyable listen. Imagine Nine Inch Nails, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, and a dash of (early) New Order, put that all together and you get Heavy Halo... One of the things that I love most is the use of melody throughout, which brings a different light to the genre." –Audioeclectica
"The dynamic duo of McKeever and Gosteffects have something special in store for you... Melodic, vocally influenced by The Cure and the Smashing Pumpkins, yet keeping in mind modern heavyweights such as HEALTH and Poppy." –Brutal Resonance
"Thundering, soaring industrial metal sounds... [Heavy Halo] lives in that place of purgatory between devastation and resilience." –CVLT Nation
"Brooklyn’s Heavy Halo continues to blur the boundaries between human and machine with [its] signature fusion of alt-rock and industrial elements." –Idioteq
"Hailing from the busy streets of New York City, Heavy Halo is a duo featuring vocalist McKeever and producer Gosteffects, who fuse... the power of rock, the slickness of electronic elements, and McKeever’s clean, crisp vocals." –New Noise
"An alt-industrial vibe, in the spirit of artists such as Nine Inch Nails or HEALTH." –Outburn
"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. In this, Heavy Halo also finds kinship with HEALTH and Poppy, reveling in that chaotic crossroads where flesh meets electric power." –Post-Punk.com
"The Brooklyn duo of McKeever and Gosteffects continue to forge a distinctly industrialized alt-rock sound as Heavy Halo, with the Damaged Dream album scheduled to arrive in 2025." –ReGen
"Chunky riffs and EBM-panicked beatwork... Nihilistic yet melodic vocals about diving headfirst into the chaos that surrounds us every day." –Revolver
"A space where alt-rock, post-punk, industrial, goth, metal, EDM and more all meet — an underground lair fashioned by producer Gosteffects. It’s a dungeon where the drum machines relentlessly hammer out irresistible grooves, the synths pulse and throb and swarm like insects, and the guitars are sharper than the spikes on a punk’s wristband. As these elements swirl and surround you, vocalist McKeever paints a lyrical picture of loneliness and anguish." –Tinnitist
"The stage is set and it’s looking like a monumental year for Heavy Halo... It’s all been building toward the release of Damaged Dream, the twosome’s brand-new studio record. Defined by jagged guitars, raw electronics, and melodic vocals, the music of Heavy Halo might remind you of the past. Natural points of reference are acts like Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, and The Prodigy. But their music should not be thought of as some tribute to 1990s industrial rock. McKeever and Gosteffects make sure to keep things progressive and forward-thinking." –V13
Stream the music videos for Damaged Dream's singles, here:
KING YOSEF announces US tour with Youth Code, Street Sects, Insula Iscariot
With his new album, Spire of Fear, dropping August 15th,King Yosef announces the "Industrial Worship Tour," a coast-to-coast tour of the US, featuring Youth Code, Street Sects, and Insula Iscariot.
Both championed as artists on the forefront of industrialized hardcore, King Yosef's connection to Youth Code dates back at least to 2021 when the two artists teamed up to release the collaborative LP, A Skeleton Key in the Doors of Depression. Youth Code's new 2025 EP, Yours, With Malice, is out now on Sumerian Records, described by Kerrang! as "suffocating, cathartic and uplifting." Likewise, Street Sects are another group mixing the sonic palette of industrial music with the raw confessions of hardcore punk, while Insula Iscariot, signed to King Yosef's Bleakhouse label, delivers an unnerving brand of harsh EBM.
Kicking off August 16th in Seattle – one day after the release of Spire of Fear – the "Industrial Worship Tour" is 2025's ultimate package of electronic-based devastation. It is a must-see for fans of the harder side of industrial and the more experimental side of hardcore.
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.
Within the past two years, a transition has occurred; the intensity has ramped up sharply. 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. 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. 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. 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."
The selflessness of Spire of Fear is reflected in Pelletier's real-life actions of the past two years. Through tireless work, Pelletier has risen to become a central figure of the Portland, Oregon scene, building a community of musicians and artists around his label, Bleakhouse, and his annual festival, Bleakfest. He refers to Spire of Fear as "a community-based record."
Following the "Industrial Worship Tour," King Yosef plays two West Coast dates in November 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 - Phoneix, AZ @ Rosetta Sep 06 - Las Vegas, NV @ Backstage Bar Sep 07 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
Sep 08 - San Francisco, CA @ TBA
Author & Punisher, King Yosef:
Nov 12 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo Nov 13 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah
HEAVY HALO: Light Asylum's Shannon F. lends vocals to new single "Die Cast Down"; US tour begins
“Die Cast Down,” the new single by NYC alt-industrial alchemists Heavy Halo, featuring vocals by Shannon F. of Light Asylum, is out now. Stream the track, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2-0LhqLc6Y
With metallic guitars, frenetic beats, and yearning vocals, Heavy Halo creates electronic-powered rock anthems with links to the likes of NIN and Smashing Pumpkins. The duo's new album Damaged Dream will be released July 25th via Silent Pendulum Records. Pre-order the album, here: https://silentpendulumrecords.com/collections/heavy-halo
Since 2011, Shannon F. and Light Asylum have captured attention with their dark synth-pop, earning comparisons to Grace Jones and Depeche Mode (and a slot on Rolling Stone’s list of "The 50 Best Goth Songs of All Time.") With DFA Records recently reissuing their self-titled debut album, Light Asylum is back in action, performing at this year’s Cruel World and Cold Waves festivals.
Heavy Halo’s McKeever states: “The title ‘Die Cast Down” references the Julius Caesar quote about going into war, past the point of no return, crossing the rubicon. The song is about all the sacrifices you make for your artistic, political, or moral convictions… We were honored to work with the epic Shannon F. from Light Asylum on this track which she absolutely tore up.”
With Heavy Halo and Light Asylum's “Die Cast Down” collab now streaming, the two bands have hit the road together, touring the East Coast through the end of July.
Light Asylum x Heavy Halo - Summer 2025 Tour:
July 15 - Brooklyn, NY @ TV Eye July 16 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Dolphin July 17 - Baltimore, MD @ Mobtown Ballroom July 18 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit July 19 - Richmond, VA @ Cobra Cabana July 21 - Raleigh, NC @ Kings July 22 - Washington, DC @ Pie Shop July 23 - Medford, MA @ Deep Cuts July 24 - Providence, RI @ Gettie's July 25 - Kingston, NY @ Tubby's July 26 - Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Fouf's
TOTEM, the "new" album by Pygmy Lush, is out today on Persistent Vision Records.
Recorded in 2016 at GodCity Studio with Converge's Kurt Ballou,TOTEM was promptly shelved as the band (featuring four members of Pageninetynine) went on hiatus. Nearly a decade later, Pygmy Lush is back in action, playing fests such as Roadburn and Dark Days Bright Nights, and TOTEM finally sees the light of day. A monumental album that feels absolutely vital and relevant in 2025, TOTEM melds noise rock, hardcore punk, indie rock, and Americana in songs that stir the blood and haunt the soul.
"It’s a great album that sounds as urgent and delightfully out-of-step in 2025 as it would have in 2016. A lot of it is on the heavier side for Pygmy Lush, who formed in 2005 as a folky offshoot of the legendary screamo band Pageninetynine. The folky side is toned down on this one, and in the forefront is a white-hot offering of experimental post-hardcore that kinda sounds like a cross between ’80s Sonic Youth and ’90s Dischord, all done in the way that only Pygmy Lush can."
–BrooklynVegan
"Almost a decade later, this hidden gem is surfacing... an album that sounds like it was made for the relentless chaos of 2025. The experimental offshoot of screamo pioneers Pageninetynine, Pygmy Lush brings together so many layers of genre I can’t put a pin in it — it’s part indie rock, part grunge, part noise rock, part shoegaze, part Americana, and all good." –CVLT Nation
"Recorded in 2016 at GodCity Studio with Converge’s Kurt Ballou, TOTEM is an unfiltered document of a band at the height of its creative powers. Though it has been shelved for years, the record pulses with a vitality which feels current. A sprawling, genre-defying statement, TOTEM fuses noise rock, hardcore, punk, and haunting quietude into something singular and spellbinding. " –Destroy//Exist
"Pygmy Lush went into hibernation after releasing their third LP, 2011’s Old Friends, but their decision to reunite last year was met with such excitement that they soon found themselves on NPR, playing the Dark Days Bright Nights festival, and even securing a coveted spot at the esteemed Roadburn. As for TOTEM, Pygmy Lush have said it went unreleased for so long (it was recorded and mixed in 2016 by Kurt Ballou of Converge) simply because the band saw no path forward for themselves at that point. But now they want the record released, so as to properly document Pygmy Lush’s history." –Flood
"Nine years is a long time to sit on an album. The idea of putting a potentially dated record into the atmosphere of a much-changed world and very volatile 2025 comes off as not only brash, but maybe even downright foolish. However, wiping the dust off and throwing it on, Pygmy Lush’s TOTEM manages to exude an air of freshness, novelty, and beauty through its tasteful songwriting and sequencing, top notch production, and finely honed edge that’s as melodic as it is aggressive... TOTEM is both cacophonous and crooning, flowing from heavy, noise laden explosions to deep breaths of 90s alternative meets contemporary Americana."
–Lambgoat
"Virginian grunge-infused Americana/dark-folk... There are at least four different bands I wish had evolved to this kind of sound, among them Nirvana." –The Obelisk
"The release of TOTEM arrives as Pygmy Lush recaptures their creative spark, with another new album in the works. And given that information, it’s in part unfinished business, an opportunity to clear the backlog before building something new. But what’s here, however much of a sharp turn away from the band’s gorgeously captured gloom of earlier records, is not only excellent enough to raise the question of why it was ever shelved in the first place but offers a bridge between Pageninetynine’s incendiary chaos and Pygmy Lush’s prettier balladry." –Treble
Consisting of three new tracks, Tiles Whisper Dreams is Car Bomb's first new music to be released since 2019's Mordial album and it marks the New York band's 25th year of existence. In that quarter-century, Car Bomb has built and trademarked its own singular style: a spiraling flurry of rhythm and texture that congeals, fleetingly, into planet-pulverizing death-grooves and fragments of haunting melodies. Baffling rhythmic modulations and deep-space guitar effects appear to warp time completely. On Tiles Whisper Dreams, the veteran quartet sounds as vicious and as exploratory as ever.
Guitarist Greg Kubacki states: "One has to sort of get lost in their own world to find their own unique sound, and that just comes from a lot of trial and error."
Opening with an odd-time groove and laser-fire guitars, then devolving into a section capable of inducing actual nausea, "Blindsides" rocks and disorients, simultaneously. "Stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back," bellows vocalist Michael Dafferner at his most Nietzschean; halfway through the song, Dafferner flips the script and unleashes his soaring singing voice. Five minutes in total, "Blindsides" sees Car Bomb flaunting all its facets and pushing all its limits, resulting in a song that shows the band at its heaviest, its most time-bending, and its most melodic.
Kubacki describes the "Blindsides" video as "a fake trailer for a fictitious 80’s animated movie" with inspirations including "Akira, Aeon Flux, Studio Ghibli and David Lynch."
Tiles Whisper Dreams was recorded at Silvercord Studio in Queens, New York, the studio owned by Gojira's Joe Duplantier, and at the band members' home studios. The album was mixed by Johann Meyer at Silvercord and mastered by Grammy Award winner Ted Jensen (The Eagles, Green Day).
Car Bomb will tour Europe and the UK in August, including dates with Gojira, Between the Buried and Me, and Imperial Triumphant.
Aug 7 - Jaromer, CZ @ Brutal Assault Fest Aug 8 - Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia Aug 9 - Karlsruhe, DE @ P8 Aug 10 - Utrecht, NL @ Pandora * Aug 12 - Oberhausen, DE @ Turbinenhalle Δ Aug 14 - Nottingham, UK @ Rock City Beta Aug 15 - Bristol, UK @ ArcTanGent Fest Aug 16 - London, UK @ Oslo Aug 18 - Copenhagen, DK @ Vega # Aug 19 - Stockholm, SE @ Bar Brooklyn # Aug 20 - Oslo, NO @ Goldie # Aug 21 - Aalborg, DK @ SH35 # Aug 22 - Kiel, DE @ Kieler Schaubude # Aug 23 - Haarlem, NL @ Complexity Fest #
* = Between the Buried and Me Δ = Gojira # = Imperial Triumphant
