Swedish prog metallers Opeth have announced that the band will be parting ways with keyboardist Per Wiberg as part of a mutual decision within the band. The band is already rehearsing with a new, as-yet-unnamed keyboardist who will take over for Wiberg on upcoming tours.
Opeth guitarist and vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt released a statement on the decision, which reads:
"
Well, it's been somewhat of a revolving door of members during the last couple of years, and now Per is no longer a member. [Martin] Mendez [bass], Axe [Martin Axenrot, drums] and Fredrik [Åkesson, guitar] and I came to the decision that we should find a replacement for Per right after the recordings of the new album, and this came as no surprise to Per.
"He had, in turn, been thinking about leaving, so you could say it was a mutual decision. There's no bad blood, just a relationship that came to an end, and that's that. We wish Per the best, and he did a splendid job recording keyboards for the last record, which stands as his final recording with Opeth."
Opeth began recording their tenth studio album at the end of January, with a release date planned for sometime in the fall of 2011.
With their upcoming album, Opeth will try to outdo their last effort, 2008’s "Watershed," which was their most commercial successful record to date, selling 19,000 copies in the first week of its release in the US and coming in at number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart.
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