I can certainly hear why they think that. The beginning of Vintage immediately reminded me of the beginning of "One" by Metallica, honestly (minus the gunshots). Then I guess the first verse has a whiff of an Iced Earth style ballad to it, sure. But I tend to not like IE ballads, and I very much like this song by Witherfall a great deal.
But to be honest, its really hard to capture it in words and not do the song a disservice. It is an epic of grand proportions that could be the finest piece Witherfall has done to date. IMO, its the most heartfelt one I've heard from them, knowing a bit of the back story behind the record. As the second movement of the song kicks in about the 4 minute mark with a pounding rhythm, bleeding into that high note and solo I mentioned yesterday, it really goes to another level. It has that feel of One by Metallica in that part, mixed with Dream Theater, and then I heard some Death Angel. Just real thrashy and aggressive, and then goes into a slower, haunting, melodic part that is probably my favorite movement of the song, where Joseph sings "travel on my friend. Your memory will never die..." ... "This is not the end. Your music remains alive, the cadence of life..." something, something. "Your story forever told.." ... "You'll always be by my side when I feel like I can't go on anymore." And then another solo by Jake that just heightens all the emotion. He plays incredibly fast, but builds up to it. Great emotional lead-in to the speed part of the solo.
p.s. those lyrics lines are just what I caught, there are lines between some of those passages I missed.
p.p.s. another highlight for me is the solo around the 5:41 mark of We Are Nothing. It reminds me of something DeGarmo and Wilton would do back in the day (as a trade off, although here it is all Jake, I am assuming). It has that more melodic feel, and then has the more aggressive feel. And yes, I do compare stuff to DeGarmo a lot, as the guy is still my favorite songwriter and one of my favorite players. So this is all high praise as far as I am concerned.
MG - this will be your favorite Witherfall song.