Long before Franck Hueso became synthwave pioneer Carpenter Brut, he was a metal-loving kid from Poitiers in France. His musical journey saw him detouring off into other more electronic areas, but the likes of Metallica and Meshuggah brought him home. Today, he brings together both worlds, creating electronica with the attitude and aesthetics of metal and the ability to suck the listener in.  “That’s always been my aim with Carpenter Brut,” he says, as he prepares to run down the 10 albums that changed his life.. “All of my choices are reflections of what I want to do with my own project – sometimes I want the violence of a band like Slayer, other times the dream-like qualities of Tiamat or Paradise Lost.”Take it away, Mr Brut…
A qualified teacher with three university degrees, Woods Of Ypres mastermind David Gold was an intelligent man struggling to find his niche, as he testified on his song Travelling Alone: ‘I have searched and I have tried / To find a place where I can be / I love my homeland dearly, but never carved a place in society.’An accomplished multi-instrumentalist with a fervour for black metal, David found solace in music. His music was as much raw worship of the majestic Canadian wilderness as it was a vent for his bleakly rational observations of humanity. Woods albums II-IV articulated an evolution from raw black metal to the doom-laden gothic majesty of his magnum opus, Woods 5: Grey Skies And Electric Light.It was a record that marked another fresh start, after years of a constantly changing line-up of supporting musicians. David was the sole creative mastermind behind Woods’ music ­– until the day he recruited Joel Violette. Joel, a huge fan, couldn’t believe what was happening. “I went from fan to lead guitarist in a day!” he laughs. “It was mind-boggling. I was very inspired by what David was doing for Canada’s metal scene. Woods II is still one of my favourite albums, though it’s now difficult to listen to.”Joel got to know David in 2005 when he ordered a copy of Woods II from him. Over the next few years they traded emails, Joel posting David demos for what would become Canada 2010, the first album in his still- active solo folk/black metal project, Thrawsunblat. “Then in 2009 David was like, ‘Want me to drum on the record for you?’ I was blown away. ‘Yes, of course!’” he enthuses. “One of David’s immense qualities was his ability to get stuff done.”David found a fertile partnership with Joel. For the first time, he didn’t have to concentrate on writing everything himself, he and Joel writing half of the music each for Woods 5, giving him more time to focus on the record’s finer details. “He used to joke that we were the Lennon and McCartney of Canadian black metal!” says Joel.Written and recorded in just six weeks of July-August 2011 at Beach Road studios, Ontario, with producer Siegfried Meier, the results were stunning. The pealing solo and punchy gang shouts of Career Suicide (Is Not Real Suicide) offered hope, juxtaposed with the frustrated lamentation of Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye), which, as Joel recalls, was inspired by the death of Type O Negative frontman Peter Steele. “Type O were a huge influence on David,” he remembers. “That they became so popular after Peter died drove him bonkers.”His frustration is clear in the starkly delivered lyrics: ‘We miss them so much / Now that they are gone / Took them for granted / For living, so long.’