Castle Tales: Malfet and the Fables of Dungeon Synth
"Dolorous Gard was the original name of Lancelot's castle. The knight winds up here after being placed under an evil enchantment. Inside, Lancelot finds his name inscribed upon a tomb and realizes that is to be his home and resting place. He renames the castle Joyous Gard after settling his household but it reverts to its old name after Lancelot breaks with Arthur and brings about the doom of the Round Table"
- From the King Arthur Wiki on Locations and Castles.
One of the hallmarks of Malfet is the density of the music, not just in its music but imagery. Over the course of a career, the creator has exceedingly adorned even the album titles into a pageantry of design. “Sage and Cedar Adorn His Antlered Crown Aflame” and “Wanderer, May You Pass Through Evermore Verdant Realms” are more like magic incantations rather than song titles, as they evoke a tableau of senses and emotions. Dolorous Gard follows that tradition with even the name of the album being an entry from Arthurian lore.
Malfet's music is both melodious but also steeped in drama. The sounds which have become associated with the term "old school dungeon synth" are the constructs of ancient castles which segment landscapes. Though, unlike the predecessors of the past, Malfet's music is not cloaked despondency but rather envisions the endless adventures of this realm's inhabitants. Malfet's music exists in an agreement between comfy bardic melodies and the historics of dark fantasy. This ultimately makes the music enjoyable to experience as it rests between "ye old tavern music" and "dark dungeon music."
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Dolorous Gard is the fourth full length from Malfet seeing a release from Dungeons Deep. It is the first release since 2020's Alban Arthan and picks up the story as if no time has passed between then and now. Stylistically, it continues the same direction but takes things even further, with the record sounding more polished than the band have before. This makes tracks like "Meadow of Shattered Lances" and "Half-Sick of Shadows'' dance as medieval plays being performed by a concert of bards. It is a production that journeys away from the bedroom sound, but something which still has roots in an at-home production.
Dolorous Gard, much like on previous records, features not only music from Malfet but hand-painted artwork as album art. Its cover and additional artwork for its inserts represents the same naive magic commonly associated with the genre; professionalism comes with wild ferocity of imagination. The images of castles with sinister glowing eyes and the shield adorned by a tree look as if they were painted by someone with a clear image in their mind and executed with the passion of boundless joy. The figure valiantly holding a sword in the face of the forbidding entrance signals the start of adventure which is an overture to a record full of merry abandonment.
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At this year's North East Dungeon Siege, I photographed Maflet's set. I was excited to see the artist, as the past records have been some of the best of each year. I enjoy seeing each artist and the presentation they bring. Malfet’s setup, with their synth festooned with fairy lights, commanded a spotlight for its performance. The lights shown on the artist dressed in chainmail, as from one synth they unraveled a medieval symphony which told a thousand stories. Listening to Dolorous Gard now gives me the same feeling as a solitary figure in chainmail playing melodic synth, as if marooned from a time long lost from now.
Dolorous Gard is available now.
