Obviously their fans, including me, find their riffs, transitions and what not pleasing and that's all there is to it. I don't think it's the mixture of elements, at least it's not for me. Mostly it's the great guitars and Åkerfeldt's voice (and pen). And the whole thing, the sound.
You're right that they haven't had much variation or change in their music, or their style of music, aside from the Morningrise to My Arms, Your Hearse period, it's been more like a constant fine-tune since MAYH. Maybe that changed a bit after Blackwater Park, but the sound and music has stayed pretty much the same. That's why I couldn't get into Ghost Reveries at first at all, it sounded exactly like what I had already heard on Still Life or Blackwater Park and a lot less awesome. I kept listening to the album though and started picking up great songs and lots of great moments. It's not their best album, but has great individual songs. Beneath The Mire for one is one of their best songs ever.
As a sidenote, despite being an incoherent riff-collage to most, Morningrise has atmosphere in abundance.
One thing that I'll say about Opeth is that generally their acoustic parts don't sit too well with me. The acoustic ballads themselves are different, songs like Harvest, Benighted, Credence and so on are awesome, but the acoustic parts in heavy songs are usually rather boring, especially in 'new' Opeth. Or maybe only in the new Opeth.
Right on. Great fucking post. Their both amazing bands, I have tons of respect for both bands. C'mon, DT is more melodic death, you guys should compare your DT to In Flames.
