 Shortly after mixing was complete on the new album in April 2011 , Opeth announced that Per Wiberg was relieved of his duties in the band . In the press statement , Mikael Åkerfeldt explained the decision , saying , " 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 . " 
