Martin Lopez Leaves Opeth.

Léan

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 "

What a shame.

Karl Hungus

It's sad, but you could see it coming a mile away. I believe Lopez was suffering from some rare blood disease, and has recently had to have a lot of treatment. Gene Hoglan also filled in on a US tour, and I'm pretty certain that he was in the video for The Grand Conjuration aswell.

Lopez was easily one of my favourite drummers. Replacing him with another 'Martin' though? What are the chances?

It wasn't me!

Very sad event. Lopez just had such an infinitely tasteful approach to his drumming. I find it difficult to imagine he'll be replicated.

evad_lhorg

ah the tour will be ok but its when they go to record again and the new guy has to come up with his own stuff.

John

That's a pity. I'm glad I got to see him do his thang live though. Fantastic drummer, I look forward to hearing his Project With No Name.

Prezatch

That's horrible, i can't believe it. Martin Lopez is the man. He seemed to be getting more innovative as the albums went by too, such a shame

The Free Man

that sucks, i wonder how different they will sound now.

OctavarIan

Mm, Lopez was an awesome drummer. I haven't heard of any of the new guy's stuff yet. I'll have to check it out.

And Gene Hoglan filled in on the US tour? I would have loved to have seen some of those shows, that guy is a powerhouse of a metal drummer.

cournioni

Damn that is a pity. Would have liked to see him at Vicar St. Great drummer, one of my favourites anyway...