"So, the summer has come to an end. Autumn has arrived, and the leaves are falling of the trees as the days get shorter and darker. Life basically crumbles away in preparation for the cold and dark of winter. Your mood drops every so slightly every day, and you know that a seasonal depression is on its way. Well, Mournful Congregation's "The Book of Kings" would be the perfect soundtrack for this time of year. The music is slow, depressive and, of course, very expressive. There are only four tracks on the album, one of which is about 33 minutes long, so obviously Mournful Congregation is a band that does not rush through things. Apart from 'The Bitter Veils of Solemnity', which is a mostly acoustic piece, the tunes on this album are slow and heavy downtempo doom metal epics with lots of melancholic melodies and guitar harmonies, and a lot of variation in terms of structure and degrees of slowness. And, yes, downtempo music can be very melodic... you have the proof in this very album! Especially, the 33-minutes long title track is a true epic journey through various landscapes of depression, melancholy, oppression, desperation, and crestfallenness - in other words, it is a doom metal masterpiece. The vocals are growled, which I normally do not like in doom metal, but on "The Book of Kings" the growls work extremely well, and they are also accompanied by moaning vocals and droning chants every now and then. Fans of downtempo melodic depressive doom metal will certainly enter into suicidal depressions if they do not check out this beautifully dark and tortured funeral doom release. (review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"
