Artist: Funeral Fire
Country: Japan
Label: Menschenfeind Propaganda
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2025
Originally ‘Demo’ was first available in summer last year as a self-released demo tape, but early 2025 it saw its reissue through Germany’s Menschenfeind Propaganda. A collaboration that is not too surprising, since the musician behind this one-man project and the label already had several plans to work together. As one of the first fruits of this partnership this demo has now been made available again, albeit in a small edition of 20. Should you pick up a copy from the label, you, as a fan of well-composed and riff-driven Black Metal, will be able to eat your heart out.
The two tracks on this demo tape might not offer anything extraordinary in terms of originality or even in overall presentation, but the conviction and abandon Funeral Fire brings to the fore is the thing that makes the music compelling. The riffs and the urgent feeling throughout the full playing time (just under eight minutes) definitely reminds of Black Metal from Finnish making, melodic and melancholic with a strong propulsive drive to it. Consequently, it balances somewhere between old Sargeist and Satanic Warmaster, yet without sounding like a direct mirror image. At least, nothing indicates that Funeral Fire is a Japanese Black Metal band, even if they proudly wear the “Nagano Black Metal” tag on their demo tape. Compared to Eternal Ice for instance, one of the other projects of Ryotaro, mainly due to the comparison with Finnish Black Metal, this is by far more straightforward and even slightly accessible. Regardless of its origin and musical influences, ‘Demo’ is a strong and overall convincing start for Funeral Fire.
