Style: Progressive death metal, death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Gorguts, Immolation, Cryptopsy, Morbid Angel
Country: Sweden
Release date: 4 September 2026

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Think of your favorite album. Chances are it was born from the melding of multiple individuals’ ideas, riffs, and sonic structures, forged together through compromise. Great progressive albums are commonly the result of musicians with diverse backgrounds and interests working together to create a unifying composition. While one-man metal projects highlight an artist’s technical prowess in a variety of instruments and vocal abilities, they often lack the cumulative synergistic end-result of a group working towards the same goal. On the other hand, metal prodigies whose creative and technical abilities are unmatched may require an unfettered individualism to truly flourish without being weighed down by the inferior abilities or dim imaginations of others. Andreas Karlsson, the solo artist behind the Swedish progressive death metal act Februus, is following up his 2024 debut Surveillance Orgy with sophomore LP Construction of Conflict, unencumbered by the interjections or opinions of others.

Left to his own devices in Construction of Conflict, Karlsson serves up a putrid sludge of progressive, brutal, and traditional death metal riffs and passages, blended together with a half-baked production and grating mix. The distorted guitars have an overwhelming presence throughout the album, with Karlsson’s lower end muddy guitar tone suffocating the thin mid-to-high guitar notes, as the drums are forced into the background and the bass barely lingers underneath the maelstrom. Sections are frequently introduced and stitched together haphazardly, as album opener “Genocide by Default” abruptly begins seemingly mid-riff while the track later jarringly transitions to an incessant airy passage with minimal segue. Similarly, the riffs of “The First Limb is Cut” snap in and out of existence without any logical connection between the neighboring sections. The incorporation of random layers of guitar scrapes in the track’s opening and sloppy overall execution results in an abrasive listening experience.

Construction of Conflict contains some of the most unpalatable death metal sections I’ve come across this year. The stop-and-go hammer-on guitar phrase at the mid-point of “Suicide by Proxy” and unpolished run of harmonized guitar-triplets at the conclusion of “Fueled by Narcissism” are grating to the point of unlistenability, while the repeated grunts at the conclusion of “Measures of Escalation” are an unwelcome, noxious addition. The guitar licks, which are the heart of Februus’ sonic makeup, lack the innovation and novelty to overcome the rough production and often messy performances. Overly repetitive riffs and harmonized guitar accents throughout Construction of Conflict suffocate any semblance of appeal in the chaotic distorted sections. Meanwhile Karlsson’s vocal performance is largely made up of forgettable, boilerplate caveman death metal guttural screams. 

The more digestible sections of Construction of Conflict come when Karlsson moves beyond the ragged death metal and into more progressive territories: “Suicide by Proxy” concludes with an appealing reverb-filled guitar section; a slower, enchanting Sulphur Aeon-esque passage provides a reprieve from the surrounding rough death metal in “The First Limb is Cut”; and the album concludes with a dreamy, bass-filled acoustic passage with fitting distorted guitar harmonies in “Suppressing the Future”. “The Misery That Awaits the World” is a much needed gentle interlude to the chaos, which benefits the album’s overall digestibility. These diverse progressive passages come as beacons of light amongst the darkness of Karlsson’s jumbled distorted mess, providing palatable reprieves to the auditory assault. 

The unpleasant rough edges of poor production, uneven instrumental mix, and intermittent sloppy execution make Construction of Conflict a challenging, unfulfilling listen. Februus would make a much more lasting and positive impact by expanding on the appealing softer, progressive passages while unifying neighboring sections with smooth segues, and maybe even bringing in some outside input to hash out Karlsson’s undercooked ideas. But if constructing mental anguish was his goal, then job well done. 

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Recommended tracks: Measures of Escalation, Scavengers of the Forgotten Poor, Suppressing the Future
You may also like: Defect Designer, Demilich, Lividus, Scythe
Final verdict: 4/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Transcending Obscurity Records

Februus is:
– Andreas Karlsson (vocals, guitar, bass, electronic sounds and drum programming)