After being plagued by illness and anxiety attacks Lopez decided he wanted to concentrate fully on his own project, currently unnamed.

Martin Lopez\' replacement will be Martin \"Axe\" Axenrot, who has been filling in for the last five tours and who also recorded with the band during the recent BBC sessions. Commented Opeth frontman 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.\"