Originally published on my website Graveside Entertainment

Keyboardist Per Wiberg has been relieved of his duties in Opeth as part of a mutual decision with the band. Keyboard duties on upcoming tours will be handled by a musician who is already rehearsing with the band. Said musician’s identity will be released at a later date.

Vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt released the following statement about the matter:

“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. Mendez, Axe and Fredrik 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 remain hard at work on their next album, which follows up 2008’s critically acclaimed Watershed. The album is due out this Fall on Roadrunner Records.

Sucks. :(

He did some really cool stuff on Watershed, even though I'm not a huge fan of his playing overall. He's a really talented dude, and I wish him luck.