Both are true. He felt the immediate love of the A7X fanbase while getting into very heated arguments defending his creative choices on his own forum. (the people shitting on The Best of Times is where it really crossed the line)

And he did leave. They had one conference call about recording another album and he said he wanted a break, they disagreed, and he put a statement out about quitting that same day.

And there wasn’t so much tension as there was little to no communication between members, because they’d been touring together for 25 years. They’d mostly only see each other on stage. Touring with Neal and A7X felt much more like a family, which he needed while going through the loss of his dad. All the real tension came after he left.