With another year, the ever productive Wilson has another release, this time a long awaited collaborative effort with Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt. The duo, under the moniker Storm Corrosion, has previously promised something unlike anything they have previously released.
Stupidly, I didn’t pay much attention to that statement and fully expected something that might be an epic combination of something like Porcupine Tree with Opeth or Wilson’s solo efforts with Bloodbath.
The point is, I was looking forward to Storm Corrosion and upon giving the album enough listens; I have come to two conclusions:
Stupidly, I didn’t pay much attention to that statement and fully expected something that might be an epic combination of something like Porcupine Tree with Opeth or Wilson’s solo efforts with Bloodbath.
The point is, I was looking forward to Storm Corrosion and upon giving the album enough listens; I have come to two conclusions:
- I should take what the duo say more seriously
- Never think 1+1 equals 2, it could easily make something like 53
First and foremost; there are more than enough connections to Wilson and Åkerfeldt’s previous work. The vocals, the lyrical themes, the guitars and even the soundscapes have all the hall marks of the duo’s older records.
The jarring difference between Storm Corrosion and that of Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Bloodbath, Wilson’s solo work and other musical projects is the album revels in a sound that is, for the most part, orchestral, with hints of progressive rock, psychedelica and ambiance.
Opener Drag Ropes begins with strings before Åkerfeldt’s vocals briefly enter the fray. Guitars become more prominent as the song progresses and with the song reaches it’s mid-point, Wilson enters the fray with a vocal hook as the song continues, combining elements.
Obviously the most surprising omission (for me, anyway) is the lack of drums. A point has to be raised that this was foretold months ago that the album would be missing drums (for the majority, they do make the occasional appearance), but the lack of percussion isn’t a huge deal for Drag Ropes.
In fact, although Storm Corrosion could have done with a bit more (especially with the ever impressive Gavin Harrison providing), the record works without a beat.
As the record continues into the title track, the first half has a slow build, but sounds almost joyous by the middle. Unfortunately the second half of the song is very tedious and goes on for far too long.
The same can also, unfortunately be said for the remainder of the tracks. Hag, by far the most accessible track on the record with more than a few eerily similar moments to Wilson’s Raider II, is still quite bloated and over-indulgent.
Happy is an overlong acoustic guitar number with the odd inclusion of sampling thrown in the last minute. The track has a few moments of overlapping electric guitar and ambient soundscapping, but the track is far too long and doesn’t offer anything new.
Lock Howl is a purely instrumental track (although the record as a whole has very minimal lyrics). The song goes up in tempo with hand claps and a steady chord progression on acoustic guitar to the three minute mark, but then slows down and repeats it again for the remainder of the song.
The album concludes with Ljudet Innan which serves a decent closer. Åkerfeldt’s falsetto vocals are an unnervingly beautiful highlight on the entire album, but only last for the first minute of the song and are only briefly heard again later on.
The song progresses with far more drumming than anything preceding it (although it’s still faint and inconspicuous) and a far more normal song structure, again, it’s decent and serves as a suitable conclusion
Collectively; there’s an underwhelming sense of incompleteness with Storm Corrosion. Whilst the record isn’t strictly ambient or even minimalist, it does have the unfortunate traits of being rather placid and draining. The album consists of only six tracks, but each could quite easily be trimmed by half and nothing of value would be lost.
There’s also a lack of distinction between tracks which makes individual listening utterly pointless. Whilst Drag Ropes is a decent opener that showcases pretty much everything the record plans to unveil, very rarely does the rest of the record surpass it.
Yes, Ljudet Innan has some lovely falsetto vocals and Hag’s tiny use of cymbals are a thankful addition, but, on the whole, there’s nothing on the record particularly impressive enough to warrant multiple listens minus the album’s bookends.
It’s a shame that a collaborative effort with two of the most underrated musicians on the planet is, for the most part, a hollow and disappointing experience. It has the occasional glimmer of something outstanding amongst the seemingly never-ending operatic boredom, but the majority of the record is far too long and suffers from repetition the two artist’s established work have done so well to fend off.
I expect there will be plenty of people who will find it a refreshing, wonderfully engrossing album but for me personally; Storm Corrosion is a missed opportunity, one that I hope that these two great musicians can rectify in the near-future.
5/10
H
As the record continues into the title track, the first half has a slow build, but sounds almost joyous by the middle. Unfortunately the second half of the song is very tedious and goes on for far too long.
The same can also, unfortunately be said for the remainder of the tracks. Hag, by far the most accessible track on the record with more than a few eerily similar moments to Wilson’s Raider II, is still quite bloated and over-indulgent.
Happy is an overlong acoustic guitar number with the odd inclusion of sampling thrown in the last minute. The track has a few moments of overlapping electric guitar and ambient soundscapping, but the track is far too long and doesn’t offer anything new.
Lock Howl is a purely instrumental track (although the record as a whole has very minimal lyrics). The song goes up in tempo with hand claps and a steady chord progression on acoustic guitar to the three minute mark, but then slows down and repeats it again for the remainder of the song.
The album concludes with Ljudet Innan which serves a decent closer. Åkerfeldt’s falsetto vocals are an unnervingly beautiful highlight on the entire album, but only last for the first minute of the song and are only briefly heard again later on.
The song progresses with far more drumming than anything preceding it (although it’s still faint and inconspicuous) and a far more normal song structure, again, it’s decent and serves as a suitable conclusion
Collectively; there’s an underwhelming sense of incompleteness with Storm Corrosion. Whilst the record isn’t strictly ambient or even minimalist, it does have the unfortunate traits of being rather placid and draining. The album consists of only six tracks, but each could quite easily be trimmed by half and nothing of value would be lost.
There’s also a lack of distinction between tracks which makes individual listening utterly pointless. Whilst Drag Ropes is a decent opener that showcases pretty much everything the record plans to unveil, very rarely does the rest of the record surpass it.
Yes, Ljudet Innan has some lovely falsetto vocals and Hag’s tiny use of cymbals are a thankful addition, but, on the whole, there’s nothing on the record particularly impressive enough to warrant multiple listens minus the album’s bookends.
It’s a shame that a collaborative effort with two of the most underrated musicians on the planet is, for the most part, a hollow and disappointing experience. It has the occasional glimmer of something outstanding amongst the seemingly never-ending operatic boredom, but the majority of the record is far too long and suffers from repetition the two artist’s established work have done so well to fend off.
I expect there will be plenty of people who will find it a refreshing, wonderfully engrossing album but for me personally; Storm Corrosion is a missed opportunity, one that I hope that these two great musicians can rectify in the near-future.
5/10
H
No comments:
Post a Comment