Better to sound like a good band than opeth.
I've seen Opeth quite a lot of times - five or six - both here and overseas and, much like their songs, they are fairly hit and miss. I remember one of the times I saw them in Perth and I thought geez, that was an awesome show, and then a month or so later being in Europe and saw they were playing so was keen to watch them. They were playing at the same time as another band I was curious to check out so I went and watched part of that bands set and then came back to watch the end half of Opeth. That ended up being so boring I was literally yawning, in spite of Mr. Akerfeldt's ability as a very entertaining frontman. I'm not sure if it was just not that conducive to the festival environment, but I think it all came down to song selection, in that they have some really cool tracks but also too many ones that end up seeming monotonous and uninteresting. But I guess some people are into that.
This is where Noctis come in. I generally have the attitude about perth 'metal' bands of "if you don't have something good to say then don't say anything", especially since not all of the members are tools, but I guess since the subject has already been broached...
The thing I don't understand though is if you're going to copy a band then why would you choose 'miss' material. Though I guess much like the way Opeth appeal to mainstream audiences these days I guess it is a way to try to hook in the less metal people.