STORM CORROSION

A collaboration of two of the most celebrated men in modern progressive music that avoids being a safe album that simply blends their styles together. Instead, Storm Corrosion is a highly inventive and unique album, which is hard to accomplish in this new age of music where experimental music is thriving thanks to the internet. The album is highly minimalistic with scarse use of percussion. It has eerie overtones and a healthy mix of the pleasant and the abstract.

"Drag Ropes" is the 10 minute single released as a very effective video using shadow puppets. The first half of the track relies on symphonic elements where they mesh really well with the enchanting acoustic guitar playing from Mikael. The menacing piano and jazzy percussion build tension as the string instruments get more developed. An abrupt change to a creepy acapella with a highly memorable repeated line "and the truth will now be told on manifold" from Wilson is so brilliant and unique that I can only think of Mozart's Requiem as a possible influence. Heavy choir mellotron and an disturbing, angular bass guitar riff work perfectly with Wilson's repeated chant. This is followed by a very dense melancholic section with heavy use of strings and piano which also features a heart-wrenching electric guitar solo. Earlier themes are brought back as the protagonist who lost his pagan wife to religion burns down the church.

"Storm Corrosion" is another favorite of mine as I can imagine the protagonist sadly walking through the forest during a rainy night. Beautiful flute intro is followed by vulnerable acoustic guitars and crooning. The latter half of the song has an elevated ritualistic-sounding section that gets enveloped by a horrific wall of white noise, only to end with a melancholic sound. I can only imagine the protagonist joining the pagan group from the music video during a ritual and getting spotted by a group with hostile intentions.

"Hag" unfortunately is dragged down by descending lullaby over an extended period of time, hurting the emotional impact of the piece. Once a waltz-like beat is introduced after a brief piano&vocal section, the atmosphere gets dense and the music interesting, with haunting vocalizations and an aggressive scene with distorted percussion. The boring descending lullaby ends the piece. Honestly, the demo version expands the climax and leaves a stronger impression on me.

"Happy" is another track that I don't fully understand. It is a very simple, if haunting, acoustic track with silence in the middle. It ends with some effective dissonance.

"Lock Howl" is a much stronger instrumental piece and somewhat upbeat. The piece builds upon an acoustic guitar rhythm, developing into a quite hypnotic arrangement. A bizarre psychedelic turn hits hard and is one of the more interesting parts of the album.

"Ljudet Innan" begins with Mikael's falsetto which is something many of us listeners didn't expect he was capable of doing. The rest of the piece is mostly instrumental and minimalistic with a strong new age feel on the first half, and a jazzier approach on the second half. Very strong finish to the album.