Spire of Fear, the new album by King Yosef, arrives August 15th via Bleakhouse. The announcement lands alongside the release of a music video for lead single “Molting Fear,” filmed inside a deserted nuclear power plant near Aberdeen, Washingtonโjust miles from Kurt Cobain’s hometown.
The clip, directed by George Douglas Peterson, is an unsettling visual that matches the trackโs suffocating energy.
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.
Recorded at GodCity Studio with Kurt Ballou and Zach Weeks, and mastered by Alan Douches, the album deepens Pelletierโs commitment to a sound that marries metallic hardcore with electronic abrasion.
โThe role of King Yosef in my life transformed,โ Pelletier explains. โFrom a place I went when I was waiting for production projects to release, to becoming my main source of creative fulfillment.โ
That shift is immediately audible in “Molting Fear,” a track composed almost entirely without traditional instrumentation. โThereโs no traditional instrumentation on this, other than drums,โ he says. โI wanted to make something where it got bigger in a shorter span of time than anything Iโve done before. It was about blurring the lines of ‘what is this instrument, what is that sound,’ and taking it to a very terrifying place.โ
The songโs unpredictability is deliberateโdesigned to hit with physical force while disorienting the listener. Itโs a standout example of Pelletierโs intent to โpush the King Yosef thing as far as I possibly could, without any guitars.โ
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The album as a whole doesnโt sit still. The harsh blasts of โMolting Fearโ are offset by slow-burning ballads and glum interludes, inspired by the bleak rain-washed backdrops of Oregon. Tracks like โBlue Morningโ and โLichenโ showcase that shift in emotional weight. The albumโs eleven tracks pull from influences ranging from Godflesh and Nails to Portishead, Aphex Twin, and even The Stone Roses.
Pelletier points out the thematic distinction between his 2023 release An Underlying Hum and Spire of Fear: “After An Underlying Hum, I answered a lot of my own questions and then had to look forward and figure out what navigating the rest of my life was about.”
This time around, it’s less about the past and more about the process of facing what’s ahead. “Turns out, it’s about showing up, being accountable and not turning away from the things that I fear, because the implications of turning away are far worse than the fear.” He expands further: “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, youโre probably going to be alright and the path shows itself from there.”
That sense of scale, both personal and communal, seeps into the recordโs construction. Pelletier calls Spire of Fear โa community-based record.โ Much of its core came together in Portland, around the growing DIY scene heโs helped shape. “Spire of Fear is influenced by Portland, because I am inspired by my friends,” he says. “Between the time you spend together hanging out, going to each otherโs 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.”
The album features contributions from Kameron Tyler on live drums, guest vocals from Ryan Osterman on โGlimmer,โ and The Bleakhouse Choir on โDoomtown.โ It’s a full-fledged statement from an artist who has spent the past few years building a world around his musicโthrough tireless touring, producing, and organizing, including the launch of his own festival, Bleakfest.
King Yosefโs Spire of Fear drops August 15th. The music video for โMolting Fearโ is now streaming: watch here. Pre-order the album via kingyosef.com.
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