Calling BULLSHIT in caps doesn't make your argument more resounding. Ahehehe. I haven't heard the new album, so I can't comment whether it was any good or not (and certainly consider that others tell me it's not good!), but I liked Ghost Reveries quite a bit. I'm not some pro-Opeth partisan, and like I said, remember I haven't pirated Waterclime so I'm not disputing anyone saying it's bad (again, because I haven't heard it).
You can claim otherwise, but oftentimes a band's expectations colors people's reactions to their music. Maybe you're personally more objective and deliberate in how you experience music, but that doesn't mean expectations don't matter. It's true for other mediums too, art, writing, dwarf tossing... if you do something really well, and then produce something others feel is not up to snuff, it can be poorly received in spite of its relative quality...