It saddens me to say it that way, but I think WS is their weakest album.
Especially as I regard GR, along with BWP, as their best album. I've been listening to their sound from 1997, and I don't mean this statement as bragging, but only to show that some of the "oldest" fans really appreciate their evolution throughout the years. The difference between BWP and GR is obvious, yet they couldn't be any better than how they sound, and they have a VIBE that incites me to put either one I'm listening to on repeat.
WS, as personal as the lyrics seem to be to Mikael, feels contrived and, sometimes, ackward. There are many good moments on the album, but some of them could have been an intro to a much better motif to the rest of the song they belong to. I'll give an exemple : starting at 3:13 on Hex Omega (which is one of my favorite tracks on the album), who thinks that THAT keyboard part would have made an EXCELLENT blowout of all instruments following that lead ? (hope I'm making myself clear, I'm no musician and english isn't my mothertongue). And then it could have segued into the doom-metal-like ending of the song... As I said, it's one of my favorite songs, and I'm a proghead since the early 90s (I ain't that old) so I like how the song evolves, but I think it could just have been so much better that way. And much of the album feels like that.
So as most of you said, yes it's a good album when compared to most of what's on the market, but for an Opeth album, I think it has imore of ts share of flaws.