But by now, the Congregation is preaching to the suicide choir. The converts know the deal already -- we're all born-again death procession acolytes, died-in-the-wool mourners-on-command. And command they do. "The Catechism of Depression" bores trenches through your soul before your fingernails can reach your face; a trebly melody rises tentatively out of the early minutes of the song, to be redeemed in full voice nearly ten minutes later. "The Waterless Streams" contains enough menacing sorrow to flood its namesakes several times over with a chilly saline-blood solution. As always, fault-ripping roars dominate the vocals. In contrast, the near operatic clean vocals of MC's early recordings, now absent for quite some time, have been replaced by Agalloch-style whisper-chants, which work beautifully against the acoustic backdrop of "The Bitter Veils of Solemnity" (gravitas!). The closing half-hour title track finds that last bit of extra dreariness in dramatic guitar soloing and moments of calm near-silence.

It's true that _The Book of Kings_ offers little that surprises, but the faithful didn't really show up for that anyhow. Funeral doom services are meant to provide comfort: a suitable ambiance for morose contemplation, a perfect cathedral in which to worship.