Storm Corrosion Announce Album: Opeth and Porcupine Tree Frontmen Unite for New Project

Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt and Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson have teamed up in a new project they've dubbed Storm Corrosion. The prog-rock stars will release their self-titled debut album on April 24 via Roadrunner Records.

Åkerfeldt and Wilson have been friends since the late '90s, when Wilson co-produced Opeth's revered 'Blackwater Park' album. Over the years, they'd often spoken of working on a project together, but it wasn't until recently that they managed to make something happen, when Mikael flew over to visit Steven in the UK and they ended up in Wilson's home studio throwing ideas around. That visit was the nascence of a whole self-titled album, written and produced by the pair, and mixed by Wilson.

Roadrunner Records describes Storm Corrosion's sound as "enchanting, orchestral, ambient, epic (half the album's tracks clock in around the 10-minute mark) and nothing short of surprising to the new ear."

Says Wilson, "If you'd asked me three months ago about the music, I would have said, 'Expect the last thing you would expect.' But actually, now that 'Heritage' and 'Grace for Drowning' have come out, I don't think it's going to be that much of a shock to people, because it's almost like a third part of the trilogy, in a way. If anything, it's even more orchestral, even more stripped down, even more dark, twisted and melancholic... but it certainly feels like it comes from the same place as 'Heritage' and 'Grace for Drowning,' which indeed it does because it was written during the same period."

"Some of the music on this record I think is the most beautiful music I have participated on ever," adds Åkerfeldt. "There's some magical sections on there. Musically I think we've created something earthy, a bit frightening, exhausting, profound and rather intense. All at the same time. I can safely say I don't know any other band or artist that sounds anything like Storm Corrosion. I guess that was also one of our goals, so to speak."