Review by Vladimir on July 19, 2023.

From the populated and crowded streets of Rome, Italy, comes a black metal band by the name of Defleshing A God, formed in 2022 and has just recently put out their first release in the form of a 4-track EP Cenotapharium. Without any delay, let’s take a look at the dark depths of the Cenotapharium and deflesh this being. 

When it comes to the musical output of Defleshing A God, it’s black metal alright, very straightforward and basic black metal. Riffs are your usual tremolo picking with reverse blast beat drums and aggressive harsh vocals, all of which are very formulaic and standard. I won’t bother you too much about what this album is since it’s pretty much what you expect from a typical black metal band, but I will say what I don’t find attractive about this album. This EP is very short, with a total runtime of 9 minutes and 7 seconds, which gives you a very quick jump to conclusion. This is due to the fact that the tracks themselves are very short, being just a bit more than 2 minutes long, and it really feels anticlimactic that all four of them are done in the same way. I probably would have been a bit more forgiving if the songs were at least any good, but sadly, they aren’t. The songwriting on all tracks is just incredibly generic and forgettable that you can definitely tell that they were anything but inspired to work on their riffs and probably just rushed this EP to get it out as soon as possible, which might explain why all four songs are so short. Another thing that really puts me off is the cover art for the EP, which I am not sure if it’s AI generated or not, but it certainly looks so. Visually it looks interesting, you can definitely give some credit to the creativity of it, but stylistically it looks so much AI generated judging by the shades and the colors of the artwork. Whether the cover art is indeed AI generated or not, I certainly would not approve of the decision if it was, because I just can’t look the other way and accept the fact that someone is selling their “product” that is artificial. Personally, I would find it a complete scam if you as an artist sold something that wasn’t handcrafted to begin with, and the same rule applies to bands that use this kind of artwork as the key visual aspect of their album. I understand if the band members don’t have enough money to pay someone to do a cover art that is visually stunning or acceptable in quality, but I would hate to resort to asking Midjourney AI or whatever to make an album art and call it a day. I am not sure, maybe this new trend has become acceptable in this modern age so perhaps I just don’t get the point, but I would hate to think for a second that anyone would want to buy something that’s so “artificial” and not handcrafted. As for the sound production, it is very solid, nothing too spectacular, but it is acceptable. 

I honestly hoped that this EP would be alright or likable to a certain extent, but man am I really disappointed with the overall execution all the way from the cover art to the music. I understand that this is the band’s first attempt at making music, so it is unfair of me to be so harsh towards them, but this is just not a good way to start things off people. I hope they will work out in the future and improve upon their mistakes, because I would just hate to see this band ruin their potential. 

Rating: 4.1 out of 10