This is my second foray into the Malfortune Discs catalog, the first being the previously reviewed Desolation. Rusty Iron Spear can be considered a compilation, as it includes all five songs previously released by the artist on Bandcamp between 2019 and 2020.
On their Bandcamp page Rusty Iron Spear describes their songs as both dungeon synth and dungeon noise. The same tags could have been applied to Desolation, though I find Rusty Iron Spear to be much further to the dungeon synth side of the continuum – to my ears it would be best described as “lo-fi dungeon synth”, with lo-fi in this context meaning that the recording intentionally injects distortion and fuzz elements. The tracks sound as if they’re being played on a long-lost cassette, something lost under the seat of your car for years or even found on the side of the road, dirty and worn but still playable. At just under 12 minutes, Rusty Iron Spear is concise – ideas are introduced fully formed and without extraneous elements. Flute-like elements at times create a Far Eastern sensation, though the heaviness is rooted in early horror cinema.