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If "The Kovenant" had remained the "Covenant" from their beginnings, who knows what they would be today?
Of course, Nagash and Blackheart's band have seen many changes since 1997, when they released this "In Time Before the Light"; moving from Black Metal that couldn’t be called "True Norwegian" simply because it harbored the unhealthy seeds of symphonism that later brought much success to others (Dimmu Borgir, not coincidentally. Cradle of Filth, Emperor, etc. etc.), they have arrived at an Industrial style that is contaminated and contaminating, enjoyable to listen to, fast, powerful, rocky, and sophisticated, but which has nothing to do with the songs that make up the work I am writing about.
This album is a lash of Black Metal. Symphonic yes, but always and only Black Metal, as many would like to remember it: raw, nocturnal, icy, fast, and wicked. In this, the "Covenant" had nothing to envy from anyone, and if you have the luck to find the first press of the CD and not the one overflowing with effects dated 2002, then you can realize it: gloomy, sulfurous chords, gritty, violent, and without any glimpse of light.
Tracks like "Towards the Crown of Nights", "From the Storm of Shadows", "Dragon Storm", are clear examples to elucidate what I am talking about. Classic style outbursts, without frills and without any mercy for the auricular lobes, without demanding originality of sounds or contents, yet fascinating, where, besides the annihilating carpet of fury and speed, combined with a good dose of estrangement typical of this band genre, one is accompanied by keyboard interludes and guitars that, rather than to the fundamentals of the songs, stand on their surface, enriching them with pathos and reverb.
But there is also time to decelerate and indulge in the luxury of bringing compositions to a strange level, entirely made of atmosphere and frigidity, but with more than a wink to the fact that it is still music we are talking about, which in its scabrous and sparse impact materiality, brings back to sick and certainly sad concepts to which the Covenant draw with full hands. The most fitting example in this sense is represented by "Night of the Blackwinds", or "Visions of Lost Kingdom", or the last "Monarch of the Mighty Darkness", inspired to the nth power and that seems like the continuation of the second mentioned, yet without carrying forward the same things tediously: there is absolutely nothing boring here. Quite the opposite.
And so, we return to the earlier question: What would The Kovenant be if they had remained as represented in this record? It is certain that they would never have composed chart songs like "New World Order" or "Jihad"; nor would they ever have given birth to albums like "Nexus Polaris" or "S.E.T.I.", but in the end, if it hadn't been this way, would there really have been a need for it? Really?
So, to close the circle, I certainly recommend listening to this album, which certainly does not shine for originality but which at the time it was published indeed contributed, in its small way, to embroider the extremist and furious aura of Black Metal, even wanting it freed from the acid and unremitting accelerations without pause of other bands, which alone constituted the fundamental fabric of a music that already at this stage managed to be very expressive. Imagine then with the great dose of symphonism the Covenant surrounded themselves with.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Dragonstorms (04:59)
Through the Dark I storm with hate, ablaze with gruesome might
Again destruction walks my path as I battle for the night
Blackwinds come and lift my dragonwings into the sky
Carry me across domains, towards the night I fly
I spread my wings across the fields, forever growing cold
Lightning fills my heart like myths had once foretold
I prowl the woods for living blood, the reaper of light
Again destrucion walks my path, I conquer for the night
The dragonstorms flew away with the starwinds...
Towards the realm of nights...into the dark where dragons ride....
Come forth thou glorious night, embrace me in your triumphant grasp
I crave for darkness...I crave for the dragonstorms to come again
My eyes they gleam with victory under the blackening sun
Through the clouds I storm with pride, the battle has been won
Cravens of the light they flee as dragons ride again
Evil dominates the world...as i am unchained
See the firedragons they ride as fogwinds of beauty
The forevernight is here at last..the sun now fades away
Embraced by triumph I take the throne and crown myself the king
Eternal darkness veils the sky....hear the dragons sing
The dragonstorms flew away with the starwinds...
Towards the realm of nights...into the dark where dragons ride....
03 The Dark Conquest (06:56)
A visitor appears before my eyes
A vision where I am king...eternal
And in the blackness of night
I shall conquer...I shall rise
My eyes they gleam with triumph and glory
Many battles I have fought...and won
And for centuries have I ruled as king
But still the greatest conquest is to come
I will forever seek
To dominate the weak
Oh...how they shall suffer
The anger of my hate
But victory shall come...
Embrace the dark conquest
"Forever winter...forever night..."
A tear
04 From the Storm of Shadows (05:15)
From the storm of shadows
In the mist of night
Through the dark wastelands of time
Hear my cries of hate
Hate for all
As I wander through the cold
Within my black soul
A fire burns
The fire of god's destruction
The shadowstorms
Howl again
The light will fade away and die
Black souls... eternal souls
Like a vision that haunts the night
Swept away in the night
From the storm of shadows...
King of the night
Through the mighty winter
My eternal winter
I am king... I rule this world
I rise upon my throne
The dragonthrone
I am emperor... and I am god
"I long for the dark night...
And the storm to come again"
05 Night of the Blackwinds (03:42)
Breath through the chasm of night
Wander off into the mountain
Where many a king has fone
Before the dawn of time
Misty paths enlighten my way
To seek the ancient wisdom
Travel to the far beyond
To unveil that carved in stone
Myths of my forefathers quests
Asknowledged before my eyes
Here in this mountain hall
I grasp at the memories
Feel the gaze of enticing power
Unite myself with out forefathers kings
Grow in the knowledge of anceint glory
I am the past come again
Breath through the chasm of night
Wander off into the skies
Where many a king has gone before
Forever to walk, again once more
06 The Chasm (03:46)
Breath through the chasm of night
Wander off into the mountain
Where many a king has fone
Before the dawn of time
Misty paths enlighten my way
To seek the ancient wisdom
Travel to the far beyond
To unveil that carved in stone
Myths of my forefathers quests
Asknowledged before my eyes
Here in this mountain hall
I grasp at the memories
Feel the gaze of enticing power
Unite myself with out forefathers kings
Grow in the knowledge of anceint glory
I am the past come again
Breath through the chasm of night
Wander off into the skies
Where many a king has gone before
Forever to walk, again once more
07 Visions of a Lost Kingdom (03:27)
Swept in the wintery landscapes
Untouched by the hands of the holy
I am a demon, I hold the key
But not for myself...
But to crush the feeble race
I have thad visions of lost kingdom
Once so proud but only to fall
We raise the sign on the mountainside
This domain....
Is eternally ours
Out world is like a black soul
In eteral search for immortalilty
But the soul is tired of searching...
08 Through the Eyes of the Raven (05:02)
Swept through the loney marshes
Of Norseland ancient soil
Below me withering blizzard
Has melted with the snow
"My tears no longer turned to frost
My eyes they gleam no more
Triumphant pride forever lost
King Winter...where is thy cold?"
"Many a winters night I have longed
In solitude of my own reflection
Silently I spill a tear into the sea
Am I doomed to haunt this landscape forever?"
A colourless cascade of withering grey
Midnight slumber hides my pain
"In the gloominess of autumn dusk
I sat mesmerized, staring at the sky
Will you come to take me away
In your everlasting grasp?"
I yearn for thee...King Winter
Make me frozen, cold as ice
I give to thee my blinded eyes
Make me chilling, as white as snow
I give to thee my lonely soul
Hear my longing, hear my cry
I give to thee my empty mind
Cast your winds upon my wing
I give to thee my hollow heart
Come...King winter, blow me so far away
Swept away into the night, end my sorrow end pain
Come...eternal winter, blow me so far away
Swept away into the night, never to be seen again
09 In Times Before the Light (06:01)
From the mist of a thousand nights
A chilling wind howls forth
Lonely souls set to hunt
A sky both dark and cruel
In times before the light
In times before the feeble
Lonely souls...
Freezing cold
To be a soul of eternal frost
And roam the darkest of nights
Autumn spirits set to hunt
Moonlight rapes the night
Blackwinds prowl the Dragonthrone
Sheltered from the sun
Lonely times before the light
Are yet to come
Dark night...Lonely night
In times before the feeble
Cold night...Freezing night
In times before the light
From the mist of a thousand nights
A chilling wind howls forth
Lonely souls set to hunt
A sky both dark and cruel
In times before the light
In times before the feeble
Lonely souls...
Freezing cold
Dark night...Freezing night
In times before the feeble
Dark night...Freezing night
In times before the light
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