#10: Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion (2012)---TRACKLIST---(1) Drag Ropes (2) Storm Corrosion (3) Hag (4) Happy (5) Lock Howl (6) Ljudet Innan
Let’s start my top ten off with a bit of a surprise. Storm Corrosion, the recent collaboration between Steven Wilson and Mikael Akerfeldt, is an amazing, amazing record. My expectations before the album came out weren’t all that high. I had gotten pretty tired of the “70s throwback” records everyone was putting out, and the news that the whole album would be entirely ambient made things even more risky. When I picked the album up, it took some time to grow on me, but before too long I soon realized that this record is truly something special. I guess in a way I shouldn’t be too surprised, since it was made by two of my favorite musicians of all time. As I’ve mentioned before, I love atmosphere in music. You could say it’s a musical fetish of mine. Not only might this be the most heavily atmospheric record ever made, but it has a striking amount of variety within it, too. Every song creates vivid mental images in your head. The title track,
Storm Corrosion, is one of the most beautiful songs ever made, and creates images of extensive fields with rain coming down from the cloudy skies above, empty buildings being overtaken by nature, and a beautiful sunset. It is definitely one of my favorite songs of all time, made even more lush by Steven’s soothing vocals and the single most beautiful guitar solo I’ve ever heard.
Hag is very dark and brooding, evoking images of a shady, candlelit cult, an empty room with no light. The closer,
Ljudet Innan, is another beautiful song, creating images of a large, peaceful cathedral, a glimmer of shining light in the middle of darkness. There isn’t a single weak song on the album, and each one is unique. The only complaint I have is that while I prefer Steven’s clean vocals, I wish Mikeal got to sing more often. The harmonies between them on the opener
Drag Ropes are fantastic, and aside from that song, pretty much all the vocals are handled entirely by Steven. Still, he does such a great job that it doesn’t really hurt the album. Now, as much as I love this record, it’s not for everyone. If you don’t like ambient, atmospheric music, you won’t like this album. Don’t wait for something exciting to happen on this record, because it rarely ever does. However, if you’re the type that likes long passages of quiet, ambient, and beautiful music, you should absolutely adore this album.
---FAVORITE SONGS---Drag Ropes,
Storm Corrosion,
Hag,
Ljudet Innan