Artist: Funeral Fire
Country: Japan
Label: Rat Covenant
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2025
In the summer of last year, Funeral Fire’s debut demo was reissued through the German label Menscheinfeind Propaganda and in the waning moments of 2025 the same honour befell the band’s last demo. ‘Demo 3’ was originally in May 2025 as a self-released cassette tape, in an undisclosed amount of copies. This time it was Rat Covenant, also from Germany, picking up the task to make this demo available again. At least for the European market, but even then, if you’re thinking of buying a copy, don’t wait too long as there’s again only 20 copies available – just like the Menschenfeind Propaganda edition of ‘Demo’ a few months earlier. Let’s taste some more raw and melodic Japanese Black Metal.
In between ‘Demo’ and ‘Demo 3’, you would expect, well, ‘Demo 2’. But that one doesn’t exist, or is not released yet. However, the band die release a 1-track CDr, marketed as “single” in January 2025. But even if we were to consider it as ‘Demo 2’, there is actually no musical progression or development to be found across the three releases under this name. In fact, Funeral Fire shows just as little musical diversity as Eternal Ice, the other band of Ryotaro, multi-instrumentalist and sole member of this project. Although that may be interpreted as a negative statement, it is by no means intended as such. I would almost say: on the contrary.
Sometimes simplicity can be even more enjoyable than the constant pursuit of progress and originality. That is certainly the case here. Ryotaro has already proven himself to be a gifted musician on various releases, particularly with Eternal Ice, but also with Remina and Dark Fog Eruption. With limited resources, he knows how to make good use of dynamics, tempo changes, and memorable melodies. Technically, it may not be of the highest order, but it works excellently, and the two songs on ‘Demo 3’ are of the same quality. Solid Black Metal with equally solid production. I’d definitely like a few more of these, especially when everything is served up in such manageable small portions!
Two thumbs up for Rat Covenant, with its DIY aesthetic of glued-together covers, stickers, and the smell of glue sticks. I felt like I was 17 again.
