Storm Corrosion
s/t

Corroded by the fury of the wind, is that what can be said of this project? A project consisting of Mikael Åkerfeldt of Opeth and Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, great musicians of great bands who allow their creativity flow in this project. I guess you would assume that great minds like that would be a guarantee for a great album, that is something we have seen time and time again. It is hard to imagine what to expect from such a project but it might be an interesting challenge which is their debut under the Storm Corrosion moniker, but even though this might be a debut album you can hardly call these guys debutants.

Musically it has traces of what they have done before but is also separated from it. It can be described as a bit silent, you can describe it as dreamy and also a bit of a sense of mystery and wind to it. A silent kind of album that can be said to be somewhat reminiscent of the latest album by Åkerfeldt’s Opeth albeit the Opeth album is a lot more dynamic than this one which feels quite devoid of dynamics if I am honest. Wilson says in the biography of the band that you have to sit down and just listen to the album to appreciate it, I have done that and the experience of listening to that is the same as listening to it while doing something. Nothing happens, the album just moves and a mellow pace with not much dynamics or variation and nothing happens. The production is excellent and you could describe it as exciting or creative if you like.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn! that is the only description you need of this album, it is dead boring. Through the album nothing at all happens, it moves slowly and silently, dreamy and dull and it sounds sort of like a lullaby. They sound friendly and nice throughout the album that means all the way through the six songs that make it. Not much differ the songs from one another and it can be described as elevator music, inoffensive and and with no need of parental guidance for your children. I would say that this is a case of musicians being too full of themselves doing what they like to do not really considering that it should appeal to anyone but themselves. Sure it is well made, well performed but the long songs are slow moving and uninteresting and it becomes an album that reminds me of the song Gravity Eyelids from the In Absentia album with Porcupine Tree. Although it is like the first part of that song and not the powerful and energetic ending. The album can actually be described as a trigger of gravity eyelids as it is very tiring to listen to.

Well, it may sound like all is crap and I am overly negative and maybe I am. There is really nothing wrong with the album as I feel the guys are doing more or less what they wanted so if this kind of dreamy mood music is interesting to you this might be something you enjoy. I think you have to be some special guy to enjoy this kind of music and sure it is nice mood music but to listen to that for 47 minutes is a bit much. I like this kind of music in smaller doses but an entire album is just too much for me. So Wilson and Åkerfeldt seems to have other ideas about what good music is than me and the reviews seems to be mixed for this album overall so it may differ from many fans’ vision and in the end I think that the combined creativity of these great musicians has led to an album of relaxation music. Get it if you need to relax or sleep, otherwise there are much more interesting albums to get.