Axenrot is awesome.

Once in the 'Greatest Drummers Ever' thread in the general metal discussion forum, people were listing Lopez as "one of the greatest there ever was". So hows that possible that he will not be missed?

We might end up having a completely new Opeth sound with Axe's ideas... and I'm not sure if its that good an idea after a release such as the Ghost Reveries.. you steer the ship in a completely NEW direction when you've just done that in your last album with the introduction of a whole new instrument in the sound?
 
saying that Lopez wasn't a main factor in Opeth's sound would be bullshit. just listen from MAYH onward, you can hear his typical drumming, amazing stuff. and since Opeth has waited for so long giving Lopez time to make his choice, shows that they also feel this way, and wanted him to stay in the band.
thus it is a shame that he is gone, I'm looking forward to what he will do in his musical career in the future.

but these things happen and a new drummer, with a totally different style will give Opeth a fresh sound in some way I think. so I look forward to what the result will be. the guys in Opeth wouldn't have chosen Axe if he wasn't capable of doing an amazing job, so I have complete confidence in it. but I am really curious!!

the thing that bugs me the most though is that I have never had the chance to see Opeth live with Lopez .... it's a shame ....
 
They should have had brought in Swano. He could have played the drums and occasionally his cheesy Steel falsetto backing vocals from time to time. lol

Not a bad idea actually. He did play well on Carnage through Resurrection. Too bad the guy can't play live.
 
Axenrot is awesome.

yes he is.

lotrz0raxe.jpg
 
I will very much miss Martin Lopez, and largely I am most gutted by the fact that I won't ever see the man play live.

HOWEVER

Axe gets better every time I see/hear him play with Opeth. I've always been a little sceptical of whether or not his style will fit the Opeth 'sound', but the curiosity that has stemmed from that scepticism has made me WAY more hungry for a new Opeth record than I was before. I say.. I can't make ANY judgements on Axe until he gets behind a kit in the studio. Only THEN will I be able to make up my mind and offer a valid critique.

For now, good luck to him. And fucking good on him for rising up to a massive challenge! :)
 
Axe is a good drummer. He is better than most. He is really blasting the drums. And his performance in Bloodbath is really intimidating. But Lopez is really a "legend". He was a musician more then a "metalhead". He wrote his drum parts with an excellent taste of orginality and he played them with perfect performance. He was a good "metal" drummer as well as he was a "tribal" percussionist. He added so much to Opeth's music...

But...

I really like Axe. I still enjoy his drums on Bloodbath but he was however really bad with live performance when I saw him (February I guess?). That must be one of his bad days.

I look forward to see what he will add to Opeth's unique music and hope he adds Opeth's music more than Lopez.
 
I say we wait until Axe has a chance to record with Opeth. All of his other bands (that I know of) that he has played with have been restrictive because they have been purely metal bands.

When he played in Melbourne he nailed every song. Even some guy next to me from sydney said that "as far as im concerned thats lopez behind the kit", Axe even improvises the curent Opeth songs so he will bring another new element within Opeth's music.

If there are any shoes to fill Axe is definitly the man that will do it. But it is a good thing he wont be a Lopez II
 
i will miss lopez, but i trust axe will do a great job... and who knows? maybe i'll get to like him more than lopez... we'll see when the next opeth record is released