Carpenter Brut

Carpenter Brut serves as the synthwave outlet for French musician Franck Hueso, fusing pounding rhythms, glowing synthesizer lines, and a profound fixation on 1980s action and horror cinema into an adrenaline-fueled sonic experience. What began as a solo bedroom endeavor led Hueso to issue three EPs that were later gathered together as Trilogy in 2015, quickly attracting a dedicated underground audience. He later transformed Carpenter Brut into a live ensemble that delivered soaring guitar leads and commanding vocal performances, allowing the project’s reach to expand steadily. The 2018 release Leather Teeth introduced clear nods to 1980s metal and glam rock, while Leather Terror extended the Leather-trilogy narrative in 2022.

Sharing roots with fellow synthwave acts such as Perturbator and GosT, Hueso entered the scene from a metal foundation, having worked as engineer, producer, mastering engineer, or session musician on numerous grindcore and thrash releases dating back to the late 1990s. German witch house imprint Black Bus Records issued the project’s first EP at the close of 2012; its track “Disco Zombi Italia” signaled key stylistic touchstones. EP II followed in 2013, after which Carpenter Brut contributed to Perturbator’s 2014 album Dangerous Days. Hueso’s own No Quarter label put out EP III in 2015, and the three EPs were subsequently assembled into Trilogy. Carpenter Brut tracks found placement in video games including Hotline Miami 2 and Furi, prompting the formation of a three-piece touring unit that included a guitarist and drummer; the lineup joined Swedish metal band Ghost for a 2016 U.S. run. The concert recording Carpenterbrutlive surfaced in 2017, presenting several previously unheard compositions alongside a version of Michael Sembello’s signature 1980s single “Maniac.”

Leather Teeth, a concise album issued in February 2018, featured appearances by Kristoffer Rygg of Ulver and Mat McNerney of Grave Pleasures and was conceived as the imagined score for a film about a reserved teenager entering a glam-metal group. Hueso confirmed that Leather Teeth would open a planned trilogy whose next chapter would shift toward darker territory. In April 2020 Carpenter Brut supplied the soundtrack to Blood Machines, the 50-minute Seth Ickerman film whose director had previously helmed the video for the track “Trilogy” from EP III. A studio rendition of “Maniac” featuring Yann Ligner of French band Klone appeared the next month.

The trilogy’s second chapter, Leather Terror, arrived in April 2022. The cinematic, John Carpenter-esque album included contributions from Ulver and Greg Puciato.