There are interviews with Åkerfeldt where he tells his side of that story. Apparently some fans were even threatening them. He seems pretty pissed about the whole affair.

I feel like everything people say about Opeth is so exaggerated, good and bad

There was one tour where they only played new songs and a few old ones with only clean singing. A lot of people were really disappointed. I also saw people leaving on several shows.

Was it that bad that people started leaving?

Good to hear the shows have improved. Maybe they got the hint from the crowd reactions. Eg. people leaving.

I just miss the heavy melodic epicness of a song like The Drapery Falls. There's so much emotion in that song, both in the music and the lyrics. They've been lacking on that front for a while now.

But it's a definite step up from their last four.