Opeth and Porcupine Tree Frontmen Unite As Storm Corrosion

The new collaboration between Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt and Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson, Storm Corrosion, feels like it may have been masterminded by the fateful hands of the musical Gods. The two unlikely collaborators found each other through such happenstance that it raises the question that a higher power may have been hard at work behind the scenes on this one.

Akerfeldt, a longtime fan of Wilson’s, called hearing Porcupine Tree for the first time back in the mid ‘90s “an awakening” and always thought it would be cool to collaborate with someone like Steven Wilson, but considered himself too much of a fan to ever reach out and propose that idea. Akerfeldt shared, “I didn’t necessarily want to get in touch with my idols, I’d never been writing letters to Iron Maiden if you know what I mean.”

Shortly after Opeth released their fourth album ‘Still Life,’ Akerfeldt received a personal email from Wilson. The two made plans to meet up and that is where their idea to collaborate was originally hatched. Wilson worked with Opeth, producing their fifth record ‘Blackwater Park,’ followed by ‘Deliverance’ and ‘Damnation,’ but it wasn’t until years later that the two would start working on their own project.

Joining the talents of perhaps two of the most innovative musicians of our time, Akerfeldt and Wilson started working together on their self-titled disc and found their own sound right out of the gate. Calling it “special, different and intriguing” Wilson described it in detail, saying, “We ran in the opposite direction of the idea of a prog metal supergroup that people had been talking about and expecting from us. It was a chance to delve into more experimental ideas.” He continued, “We were being wilfully self-indulgent in the best possible way, making music to please ourselves. There’s something wonderfully pure and liberating about that you can hear that in these songs.” Describing their debut disc as “a very unusual and unfamiliar sonic universe,” Wilson said that it’s very exciting to be a part of it all.

In the exclusive Loudwire video below, Akerfeldt and Wilson sit down to discuss how they initially became fans of each other’s work and the series of events that would lead to their collaboration. Wilson admits that he had all but dismissed the genre of metal until he was turned on to Opeth by a French journalist.

He recounts the particular story, “I actually one day was doing an interview with a French journalist and we talked a little bit about metal and how it was a part of my past, and you could hear elements of that in the music, and he said, “but do you not realize there’s this whole new scene of very sophisticated progressive metal?”” Wilson reminisces, “I knew nothing about it. So one of the album’s he gave me was Opeth’s ‘Still Alive.’ I’m given a lot of records on the road and I think only twice in twenty years have I been impressed by any of them and this was one of those times.” Akerfeldt, equally impressed with Wilson’s collection of work, calls Porcupine Tree one of his favorite bands of all time. Check out what they both have to say in the video below.

Storm Corrosion’s self-titled debut disc is due out on April 23.