After touring the United Kingdom Opeth began to record their second album, "Morningrise". The album had only five songs but was 66 minutes long. "Morningrise" was a big success, and the band toured the UK and Scandinavia playing songs from both albums. They signed a contract with Century Media, who re-released these two albums again in 1997. After the tour, Åkerfeldt and Lindgren fired DeFarfalla for personal reasons, which made Nordin, who was on a vacation in Brazil, leave the band and stay in Brazil. Martin Lopez, who played for Amon Amarth, joined Opeth in 1997 as well as bassist Martin Mendez just before recording their third album, "My Arms, Your Hearse". However, Åkerfeldt had to play bass on some songs from "My Arms, Your Hearse". The album was released on August 18, 1998, and was another big success. The album focused less on guitar harmonies and more on progressive metal riffs.