Messed!Up
Like several other synthwave artists, such as Perturbator and GosT, Hueso comes from a metal background, having engineered, produced, mastered, or played on numerous grindcore and thrash recordings since the late ’90s. German witch house label Black Bus Records released Carpenter Brut’s debut EP at the end of 2012, with the track title “Disco Zombi Italia” pointing to some of the inspirations behind the project. EP II arrived in 2013, and Carpenter Brut guested on Perturbator’s 2014 full-length Dangerous Days. EP III was released by Hueso’s own No Quarter label in 2015, and all three EPs were compiled as Trilogy. Carpenter Brut songs appeared in video games such as Hotline Miami 2 and Furi, and the project began performing as a trio with a guitarist and a drummer, including a 2016 American tour with Swedish metal band Ghost. The concert album Carpenterbrutlive appeared in 2017, including several previously unreleased songs as well as a cover of Michael Sembello’s iconic ’80s hit “Maniac.”
The short album Leather Teeth appeared in February of 2018. Featuring guest appearances by Kristoffer Rygg of Ulver and Mat McNerney of Grave Pleasures, the release was designed as the soundtrack to an imaginary movie about a shy teenager who joins a glam-metal band. Hueso announced that Leather Teeth was the first of an intended trilogy, which would take a much darker turn in its second installment. In April 2020, Carpenter Brut released the soundtrack to Blood Machines, a 50-minute film by Seth Ickerman, who previously directed the music video for the track “Trilogy” from EP III. A studio version of “Maniac,” featuring Yann Ligner of French band Klone, was released the following month.
In 2022, Carpenter Brut released Leather Terror, the second half of a conceptual diptych that began with 2018’s Leather Teeth. While Leather Teeth paid tribute to glam rock and fictionalized rock-star mythology, Leather Terror leaned harder into dystopian excess – more abrasive, heavier, and more chaotic in tone. The album featured high-profile collaborations, including Pertubator, Ghostmane, and Gunship. With Leather Terror, Hueso pushed further beyond traditional synthwave boundaries, incorporating industrial textures, metal riff structures, and distorted vocals. Critics noted that the album marked a shift from nostalgic homage toward a harsher, more modern hybrid sound – less retro revival, more genre collision.
Although Carpenter Brut had previously gained recognition for composing the score to Blood Machines, his reputation as a cinematic composer continued to influence his recent output. Over the last five years, his production style has grown more narrative-driven and soundtrack-oriented, with tracks structured like scenes rather than club singles. His work during this period reinforced his status not just as a synthwave producer, but as a film-score composer working in the language of horror, sci-fi, and exploitation cinema.
As of 2026, Carpenter Brut stands as one of the most internationally recognized artists to emerge from the synthwave movement. While many peers remain stylistically rooted in retro revivalism, his last five years show a deliberate push toward evolution—louder, harsher, and more theatrical.
Today, the third part of his trilogy is released, called Leather Temple, thus concluding the trilogy that started with Leather Teeth in 2018.
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Carpenter Brut pages
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Carpenter Brut: Leather Temple
