Great review! You feel the same way I do about this. I always loved Haggard (well, ever since Awaking the Centuries). It's a shame they take long between albums but with music like this, I guess it's understandable and they're more than forgiven for the quality they bring with each album.
On RYM, the album got bashed quite a bit with people saying they've gone less metal and there's less extreme vocals and blah blah... like you said, their loss. I personally always loved the baroque sound they have. Those who say they sound the same as Therion either don't know much Therion or don't know much about classical music. Therion may have a bit of baroque influence (on older albums especially) but there's a big difference between symphonic and baroque. Symphonic means what it is. It's a symphony... lots of intruments, huge sound. Baroque is very old, medieval music. It can be symphonic but it can be played with a minimum of them as well.
Either way, anyone with even a slight interest of classical music needs to know this band and needs this. Heck, I know some who hate metal but like this band. Anyway, enough ranting.
For newcomers, though... I'd still recommend Eppur Si Muove to check them out. It's their best, IMO.