According to the French edition of Rock Hard magazine, keyboardist Joakim Svalberg (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, GLENN HUGHES) has been rehearsing with Swedish progressive metallers OPETH for the past few weeks, but has not yet been made an official member of the band.

A photo of Svalberg in the studio with OPETH during the mixing sessions for the band’s new album, “Heritage”, can be seen on left.

Keyboardist Per Wiberg was relieved of his duties as a member of OPETH in April as part of a mutual decision with the band.

OPETH vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt released the following statement on 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. [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.”

In other news, OPETH will embark on a North American headlining tour in September with support from KATATONIA. So far the following dates have been revealed:

Sep. 19 – Worcester, MA – Palladium
Sep. 20 – Hartford, CT – Webster Theatre
Sep. 21 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
Sep. 22 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
Sep. 26 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
Sep. 28 – Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom
Sep. 29 – Charlotte, NC – Amos’ Southend
Oct. 06 – Kansas City, MO – Beaumont Club
Oct. 08 – Winnipeg, MB – Garrick Centre
Oct. 16 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
Oct. 21 – Pomona, CA – The Fox Theater
Oct. 25 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theater

Source: Blabbermouth.net