Credit: Sounds Of Mayhem
TERRANOVA
[By: PhaseOne]
Genre: Briddim, Metalcore
Rating: 60
Cohesiveness: 72
Track quality: 66
Beginner-friendly? not in the slightest
Written 2025/12/20
In the limbo space between heavy dubstep and heavy metalcore, PhaseOne gathers his troops and belligerently attacks this fusion sound once again on his sophomore album. But for all the similarities between metalcore and dubstep, this particular flavour of the fusion seems like a tough fortress to crack.
"TERRANOVA", as a record, attemps to tick a LOT of boxes. It tries to be a heightened missile of aggression, more so than either of its parent genres; it tries to follow an occult, arcane storyline; it tries to frame metalcore's powerful guitar riffs and hard-rock-esque vocal styles with growling briddim stabs. And PhaseOne genuinely tries to achieve everything, he really does try. The aggression on "TERRANOVA" is honestly almost shocking. The narrative is aptly occult and arcane, reinforced by the monstrous bass cinematics and spoken-word samples. And PhaseOne's had a stake in the metalcore-dubstep-hybrid game long enough to understand the songwriting nuances that come with moulding metalcore into bass music.
The trouble is, considering "TERRANOVA" is just a 35 minute long record, all of its attempts to execute any of the aspects feel rushed. When given such a short runtime, you simply cannot afford to try as much stuff as PhaseOne does here. Because yes, it's aggressive, but the mixing is so loud it ends up sounding flat and unpleasant, with the vocals often being drowned out, or the bass being morphed into a wall of noise rather than the dynamic backing it was originally intended to be. The screaming metal vocals pose problems too - don't get me wrong, I like my fair share of screamo as much as the next guy, but PhaseOne hurries through precious offdrop time to incorporate the screams, rushing through the songwriting to try and fit in everything he possibly can. Some of the switchups do help, like the tangent into a (somewhat tropey) DnB track in "RESET", but "TERRANOVA" always returns to its core sound, and that core sound is suffocated in all these technical issues.
Amidst the rough there are always diamonds, though. PhaseOne drags with him a surprisingly well-built cast of collaborators, from both metal and bass scenes, with names like Intervals and Make Them Suffer from the former, and HVDES and Flowidus from the latter. And these collaborators certainly put a shift in. The guitar work from the various metal bands is consistently a highlight of the tracks it features on, whilst Micah Martin puts on a compelling performance on "DIVIDE" and Future Static dominates the particularly good hybrid work of "REDSKY". Whilst the storytelling never really quite makes sense of itself, PhaseOne and co do their best to further the album's goals in any way they can.
We've certainly seen much weirder fusions before in the bass music scene - Apashe's orchestral trap style, or Effin's bizarre retro aesthetic. But despite metalcore and heavy dubstep being deceptively similar genres, it seems that the sweet spot for this hybrid has eluded a lot of producers, and "TERRANOVA" is ultimately yet another shot in the dark that fell just awry.
Listen on Spotify here.
TERRANOVA [Dark] | (/100)
This intro track is dark and edgy, and the female voice that speaks out at the beginning has plenty of gravitas without sounding too cheesy. I think this would have definitely benefitted from being split into two tracks though, because the transition into a loud, brash, stomping dubstep cut doesn't quite follow - though it is something of a guilty pleasure for me.
SOS [Heavy] | (/100)
w/ Make Them Suffer
The electronic intro is very nice, complemented by the melodic female vocal, but the male screamo vocal is arguably introduced far too early. It doesn't help that the drop is pretty bog-standard riddim with nothing interesting in the flow or sound design department. The slightly more melodic drop for the final segment feels well-intended but has a very low-risk low-reward implementation.
PULSE [Intense] | (/100)
w/ Banks Arcade
Introducing the metalcore into the track feels much smoother than anything else PhaseOne has tried so far, and both the melodic and the screaming vocal fit in well. Somehow, it's the dubstep that sticks out like a sore thumb here, with piercing sound design and some questionable mixing choices.
RESET [Switchup] | (/100)
w/ Flowidus, Dread MC
It's tropey, I know - jump-up DnB isn't exactly a genre that encourages innovation - but the swap to DnB itself is refreshing for this record. And whilst the production is mostly quite familiar, it's really Dread MC that carries this track over the finish line, because his grime performance is phenomenal, and honestly, some of the more aggressive growls from PhaseOne work very well.
BEYOND [Melodic] | (/100)
Rhythmically, "BEYOND" is fantastic, juggling big bass hits with swinging vocals and the everpresent metalcore influence. Feeling less like a rave-centric EDM track is appreciated, and this is one track that feels a little more palatable despite the short runtime and tropey songwriting.
DIVIDE [Standout] | (/100)
w/ Intervals, Micah Martin
Micah Martin seems perfectly at home in this style, but backing him up with a trap beat was absolutely not the play. Thankfully it's sidelined after the first movement in favour of a powerful riffing guitar and a clean melodic riddim flow to finish.
RUINS [Heavy] | (/100)
Atmospheric? Kind of, with the massive walls of bass dominating the intro, but the track then moves into a simple, abrasive briddim second half, with not much direction and a sustain (that gets introduced later) that I find somewhat annoying. Definitely a lot of bonus points for the intro though.
LULLABY [Standout] | (/100)
w/ HVDES
HVDES' lyricism is very heavy - though also perhaps a little too edgy - and the drop is equally heavy (though in a different sense), having a jagged, stomping briddim flow. It's very provocative lyrically, and I appreciate it for that, but it's also just generally very loud and unpleasant.
REDSKY [Intense] | (/100)
w/ Future Static
Some slick sound design ideas, and the vocal is fantastic all throughout the track. "REDSKY" doesn't feel like it quite fits together all the way through, but when it does - particularly in the second drop - it truly shines.
SHADOWS [Intense] | (/100)
w/ Scro
The guitar is actually really good here, cascading down over the production in swathes, but unfortunately I don't quite feel that Scro's vocal works here, as his screaming feels a little tiring to listen to after a while - and considering this track is over 5 minutes long, it's a tough listen, with the final drop only making it worse.
- REDSKY w/ Future Static (/100)
- DIVIDE w/ Intervals, Micah Martin (/100)
- RESET w/ Flowidus, Dread MC (/100)
- BEYOND (/100)
- TERRANOVA (/100)
- LULLABY w/ HVDES (/100)
- SHADOWS w/ Scro (/100)
- PULSE w/ Banks Arcade (/100)
- RUINS (/100)
- SOS w/ Make Them Suffer (/100)