Leather Teeth

Something shifts with "Leather Teeth." This is Carpenter Brut stepping into narrative territory, and the result feels like the opening credits of a film that doesn't exist but absolutely should. The track carries vocals — processed, theatrically delivered, channeling the spirit of glam rock and shock rock and B-movie horror simultaneously. The voice performs rather than sings, inhabiting a character who exists somewhere between a carnival barker and a slasher villain, full of bravado and menace in equal measure. Musically, the production pulls in guitar textures more prominently than much of Brut's catalog, bridging the gap between synthwave and outright metal in a way that feels organic rather than forced. The arrangement is dense but structured, with hooks that are genuinely melodic under all the grit. Lyrically, it paints the portrait of an outsider figure — dangerous, seductive, misunderstood in the way that 1980s horror antagonists were simultaneously terrifying and charismatic. The cultural context here is rich: Brut is clearly in conversation with Alice Cooper, KISS, horror punk, and the entire tradition of rock music as theatrical excess and spectacle. This is the title track of his 2018 album, and it functions as a thesis statement — this is what synthwave looks like when it puts on leather and leather and doesn't apologize. Best encountered alone, loud, with the lights off.