Loudwire recently caught up with Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth and STORM CORROSION just hours before the band’s recent New York City show with label mates MASTODON. Akerfeldt spoke about his decision to veer away from death metal both stylistically and vocally, his new project STORM CORROSION with PORCUPINE TREE frontman Steven Wilson and much more. Check an extract from that interview below:

I recently had the chance to hear the new Storm Corrosion disc and I think it’s such a beautiful album. You’re working with Steve Wilson (Porcupine Tree), who is one of your idols in a sense. You can hear elements of Opeth and Porcupine Tree, but it’s not too much to either side. It feels like you guys met right in the middle to create something very new.

Yeah, we never tried to do something that sounded like a mix. I think we tried to avoid that actually. For us to make a rock record, I think it would have been easier for us to fall into that frame of mind. All of a sudden we’re doing something that sounds exactly like a mix between our respective bands, but that’s not really interesting — not to me anyways. So we more or less tried to avoid that. We kind of gravitated towards those types of bands and those types of influences that we have never been able to use too much in our other bands, which made it sound a bit different. I like to think that it’s hard to categorize this record. It’s not a rock record, but it has some influences from rock music. I like to think it’s fairly new sounding.

Read the full interview over on Loudwire’s website by clicking here.

STORM CORROSION’s self titled album is out on Monday and you can pre-order your copy by pointing your mouse in this direction.