Storm Corrosion: "Drag Ropes"

The kinship between Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) goes back to at least 1999, when Wilson produced Opeth's breakthrough, Blackwater Park. A couple of years ago the two announced they would collaborating on a project together, with Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) providing percussion. The Heavens wept, prog geeks creamed their jeans... and somewhere along the way Portnoy got kicked to the curb. It's not really clear whether Portnoy's ugly exit from Dream Theater really estranged him to either Åkerfeldt or Wilson, but I'm willing to buy the latter two's contention that there just wasn't a lot of call for percussion on what would end up becoming Storm Corrosion... at least not on the 10-minute epic that's been released as single #1.