Martin Lopez leaves Opeth :(

[Ray Holt]

From Opeth's Myspace page...

Martin Lopez leaves Opeth!

After several months away from his drumming duties in Opeth Martin Lopez has permanently decided to leave the group. After being plagued by illness and anxiety attacks Lopez decided he wanted to concentrate fully on his own project, currently unnamed. His replacement will be Martin "Axe" Axenrot who's been filling in for the last 5 tours and who also recorded with the band during the recent BBC sessions.



Mikael Åkerfeldt: " However sad I and the rest of the band feel in light of Lopez departure I want to thank him for his incredible work with Opeth and immense dedication to the band. We recorded some classic stuff together and he obviously had an enormous impact on our sound. I now feel very excited to hear the material of his own band. In the meantime Opeth fans can rest assured that we'll continue jamming it out with Axe and we all have high expectations about our coming musical ventures "



Watch this spot for updates on Martin Lopez.

I know they'll keep making amazing music... but it still really sucks that he left. He's an amazing drummer.

Opeth is still one of the best bands out there (my favorite)

[Matt Till]

Mikael is such a nice guy.

That sucks about Martin, what a great drummer. It will be cool to see what he's producing.

[SuperDuck]

That is a shame. I really liked their last album - with a new drummer and their quasi-new keyboardist, it will be interesting to see what the next record sounds like.

[jokke_v]

It struck me as a shock when that sentence hit my eyes. Even though I've been checking out opeth.com from time to time for news on Martin Lopez - expecting that he would quit the band.

I saw Opeth with Axenrot last fall, and while he was spot on, something was missing. Martin Lopez was definately a big (giant) part of Opeth's sound, and I'm afraid that Axenrot can't fill that hole. Not that I know too much about him, but he just seem like a typical metal drummer. Precise and all of that, but lacking some of "teh groove".

I'll wait for his work on the next Opeth album to see what he's really like. And I'm really curious of what Lopez's new project is. I'm thrilled to know that we will hear more from him.

Also, there were news on a "special edition deluxe version" Ghost Reveries album. Although, it's a blatant way of getting more money out of the album - I guess it's a part of being signed to a major record label - 5.1 mix, and documentary does sound interesting. (aI'll have to set up the 5.1 amp in the livingroom then..) Booklet and the other stuff is probably cool enough as well. But come on! Special edition deluxe version?!?

New project with Steven Wilson and Mike Portnoy seems like a cool deal as well.

All in all, the news update wasn't too bad. Combining good news with Opeth losing one of their (two) key members is probably a wise thing to do.

[SuperDuck]

Originally Posted by jokke_v

Also, there were news on a "special edition deluxe version" Ghost Reveries album. Although, it's a blatant way of getting more money out of the album - I guess it's a part of being signed to a major record label - 5.1 mix, and documentary does sound interesting. (aI'll have to set up the 5.1 amp in the livingroom then..) Booklet and the other stuff is probably cool enough as well. But come on! Special edition deluxe version?!?

Yeah, but we'll all still buy it.

[jokke_v]

Originally Posted by SuperDuck

Yeah, but we'll all still buy it.

I know I will.

[andrewd]

whoever was playing drums at the providence show was pretty good.

[SOA_bassist]

that sucks, he was a good drummer, but the new album should still pwn

[steve21]

Martin was great... but I think this new guy should do good. Mikael woudln't have him join if he isn't good.

[trog]

Damn. Kinda sad to hear that; he was one of my favourite drummers.