I also have been onboard since I&W, and I also agree that "I&W is one of those magical albums that comes along very rarely." And yet, it's not my favorite DT album. To me, as good as I&W is, they took everything that was already phenominal about I&W and Awake, and took it to a whole new, previousy unexplored level with SFAM, and then did the same all over again with 6DOIT. To me, they've topped I&W at least twice (and depending on my mood at any given moment, I might say they topped it again with Octavarium and BCSL). Will they top it again? I don't know and I don't care. When the standard is so high, and you have a band that repeatedly comes close to such a high standard, I don't really care whether they actually surpass it again.
So all that being said, I say merely to illustrate an example of another "old-timer" who doesn't think Metropolis is better just because it's old. As I said earlier, it just feels better constructed and feels like it fits the mood, tone, and music of the song better than the ES instrumental.