However, overall "The Phantom Lodge" is a fairly sizeable improvement over its predecessor. That's not to say it's great, or even that good - just considerably better. There are riffs - good ones, which make you sit up and take notice, even on the first track. The production is better. The song titles are overly pretentious rather than utterly silly (although they still don't seem entirely serious - actually that's probably a good thing). There is diversity in the mire.

Occasionally the listener is reminded that their main songwriter is also in Katatonia- with startlingly good keyboard passages (and sometimes even some flutes) and a welcome variation in pace.

That said, there is still a lot of biscuit-tin-and-terrier black metal going on here, and occasionally the combination of this with keyboard arrangements makes it sound... yes, a little Cradle of Filth, which gets the 'off finger' twitching to be used. However as I say it's a big improvement on their first album, with more diverse influences and interesting arrangements (perhaps some Katatonia unconsciously creeping in) and a hint that perhaps the third album may be better yet.