the end of Opeth??

Hey guys,
I'm a huge fan of Opeth, of their unique and such personal sound. However, having listened to pretty much all of their material, I find that they developped their personality mostly from "My arms, your hearse" till of course "Ghost reveries", where they acquired full climax and just totally kicked ass!
Off course if you agree with me, then you'll probably have noticed that it's the Martin Lopez time as the band's drummer. His mix of mastery of the instrument and amazing feeling definitely is a part of this whole Opeth sound that we love so much.
I recently went to see the band in concert, as they where playing in my town. OOO MY GOOOD!!
As much as I loved watching and hearing Akerfeldt deliver the shit big time (!!!), my ears were SOOO sad to hear such a lazy drummer: who the fuck is this sucker?!! He has to be Akerfeldt's best friend or something, cause he doesn't come close to Lopez: all he did was ruin every song! The best was the encore: they played Deliverance at such slow tempo I thought I was about to ask the chick next to me for a slowdance!! I read after that Axenrot cannot play it at normal speed... great!!
So the guy lacks technique, that's a point.
The second problem is feeling: come ooon, he's just a butcher man!! Such a heavy hitter, never uses cymbals unless it's for the crash or china: the guy just ruined every slow part, he just has ZERO FEELING!!
So I'm pretty worried the best years of Opeth are now behind us, hoping their next album proves me wrong though... Confused

Anyway, cool site, take it easy guys!

Well, I know what you mean. Lopez IS a great drummer, but he just wasn't cutting as a band member. The drums may end up being inferior on the next album, unfortunately, but I think the rest of the music is sill getting better.

I wouldn't consider Lopez to be the reason for My Arms Your Hearse and the albums that followed. The album signaled something of a regime change, along with a new label and a more serious devotion to their music. I think Lopez's entrance into the band at that time was an effect of the "new Opeth", and not a cause.

We'll have to wait and see how the next album turns out, though.

If Axe really can't hack it (I don't have an opinion either way), they can always do the Lars Ulrich thing and fake the drum track for the studio albums.