Steven Wilson Wants to Make Second Storm Corrosion Album With Mikael Akerfeldt

With the live events industry shuttered over the last year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, one positive aspect has been the influx in collaborative rock and metal projects. Porcupine Tree mastermind and prog rock icon Steven Wilson has recently suggested a second Storm Corrosion album with Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt could come to fruition. The holdup? The pandemic, naturally.

Wilson, who just released his first solo album in four years, The Future Bites, spoke with Prog Magazine about what he's been up to lately, which is typically quite a lot provided he is a highly sought after producer who has been responsible for overseeing the remastering of some of prog rock's most sacred records.

During the conversation, he noted he is currently working on remixing Storm Corrosion's 2012 self-titled debut for a 10th anniversary reissue and has aspirations to create a follow-up.

"I love that record," Wilson said of Storm Corrosion. "That was another record that created a lot of controversy. I’m so proud of that record. Part of the reason we’re both proud of it is it was the last thing anyone expected us to do."

The relationship between Wilson and Åkerfeldt runs deep as Wilson produced three Opeth albums — Blackwater Park, Deliverance and Damnation — and the Opeth leader also contributed backing vocals and a guitar solo on Porcupine Tree's Deadwing album. Wilson also mixed Damnation, Heritage and Pale Communion.

When they made the decision to link up under Storm Corrosion, they initially had planned on including Mike Portnoy on drums, but ultimately moved in a radically different direction with the record, which made use of sparse percussion.

"It’s perfect for 5.1 [surround sound mix] because there’s no drums. I’ve just done an Atmos mix of the album, because that’s an album that’s going to be 10 years old next year as well. We did a great version of 'Drag Ropes' at one of Albert Hall shows which we mixed," detailed Wilson.

With a prospective reissue on the horizon, Wilson noted that it could be opportunistic to also work on the album's successor.

"That could be good time to do another record," suggested Wilson, who cautioned, "Obviously, there’s a geographical issue. We can’t just get together on Tuesday nights and jam and we don’t want to do it by email. We did Storm Corrosion when we were in the same room at the same time the whole time we made that record, and we wouldn’t want to do a record any other way."

Fans shouldn't lose hope, however, as Wilson concluded, "I like to think we’ll do it eventually."

Storm Corrosion, "Drag Ropes" Music Video