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The Covenant emerged in the early '90s, following in the footsteps of legends like Mayhem and Emperor, but initially remained in the background of the international black metal scene.
Also hailing from Norway, they had to wait until 1997 to gain some fame outside their country of origin, with the release under the Nuclear Blast label of “Nexus Polaris”, an album that is a hybrid between pure original black metal and various classical and electronic experiments.
Subsequently, after their explosion of fame and winning a Grammy (the first extreme metal band in history to win one), The Kovenant (a new name chosen to resolve the homonymy with the Covenant pioneers of EBM) evolved their style, which increasingly leaned towards industrial with the 1999 album “Animatronic”, until they embraced absolute electronics with their latest album “S.E.T.I.”.
However, I believe that “Nexus Polaris” remains the highest peak of their discography.
The album starts with “The Sulphur Feast”, which begins with a very fast arpeggio accompanied by a dragging scream, then develops into a symphonic black track tinged with death featuring piano inserts, a peculiarity of the album.
The second track “Bizarre Cosmic Industries” features a rougher guitar rhythmic section, it is a progressive song where, among other things, the classical digressions become more pronounced.
Then comes “Planetarium”, a song more purely black than the first two but supported by an electronic sound carpet.
In “Last Of The Dragons” the black element is still present, but some more dragged-out guitar riffs again suggest melodic death and at times doom. Additionally, for the first time, we hear the sound wall of Hellhammer (renowned drummer from Mayhem and notoriously involved in countless black and non-black projects).
We've reached what I consider the most beautiful track of the album, namely “Bringer Of The Sixth Sun”, dominated for large parts by a riff still leaning towards the Dimmu Borgir style and possessing a central part as melodic as it is fierce. A track that embodies all the musical variations of the album.
Next is “Dragonheart”, the only fully black track of the album with its dark and oppressive melodies, although it presents itself as quite progressive as well. In this song, Hellhammer's fury on the drums intensifies significantly.
“Chariots Of Thunder”: here we are at the first industrial beginning in The Kovenant's history. The song then continues at a fairly measured pace, maintaining the haunting tone of the beginning.
The album closes with “Planetary Black Elements”: once again a track that is essentially symphonic black, but experimentation becomes more persistent as the song progresses.
In my opinion, a beautiful album: inspired, technically excellent (especially Hellhammer), but probably very cold on the emotional level.
Nevertheless, since I consider this album's music to be absolutely ends in itself, a wonderful demonstration of creativity, I still give the highest rating to the album and to an avant-garde metal band.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 The Sulphur Feast (04:10)
Thirsting, waiting... - I drank a sulphur feast
Then, silently...in an instant. Your flesh become me
...and I was forlorn
My grave rose to the west...
for centuries long forgotten
Relentless as the hungry gates of dawn
and there, admist the rubble...
of stones and earthly flesh,
...I laughed and served a sulphur feast.
And still it haunts me...
Drunk, with power
I striked at the sun
...engulfed, fiery instant
Gobbling, gobbling...
I devoured the stars
My universe torn asunder
Then, as dusk anrawelled...
the brittle of my bones,
...a shredded mould of obelisques groutesqe
I stive beneath the essence...
derived from mortal men,
...cought between two parallels of death
Thirsting, waiting... - I sailed a sulphur sea
...of putrid furios flesh - A parody of feasting fools...
where prophets and madmen - ...walk hand in hand
02 Bizarre Cosmic Industries (05:52)
So I reach inside the raging galaxy
And grab some small glittering oddity
Such a creation - so crippled and deranged
A tiny figure in the bizarre cosmic industry
In different aspects of this circus maximus
Can you truly see behind my clows mask?
So like a monster jack in the box
Always in search for a greater gathering
Unleash the dust and unite the horrid flesh
Become the craven horns for others to see
So I reach inside the raging galaxy
And grab some small glittering oddity
Such a creation - so crippled and deranged
A tiny figure in the bizarre cosmic industry
In different aspects of this circus maximus
Can you truly see behind my clows mask?
So like a monster jack in the box
Always in search for a greater gathering
Welcome to the temple of fallen clowns
Where the many colours of darkness reside
"Lifeless I sail through these ironic fashions
Dressed in the flesh of the joker磗 passions
On the uttermost brink of madness I stroll
And the rise of insanity - as my most precious goal
Quilted in feathers, deranged and worn
I fly with the flock of my vanity torn
Tricking the trail of my long lost obscurity
I gather me inside the artifice of eternity...
03 Planetarium (04:01)
Reach beyond the constellations
A movement towards the monumental
Universal secrets - The cosmic error
Sculptured by those dying generations
...I drank the passions of those lost in the paradox...
As the stars touched my essence
The last of all creations wept
Paralyzed with wonder and confusion
Blurred by the serpents temptation
...I drank the passions of those lost in the paradox...
Entangled in a swirling black aura of united burning chaos
Anthems to the forgotten masters - A gathering equilibrium
Reach beyond the constellations
A movement towards the monumental
Universal secrets - The cosmic error
Sculptured by those dying generations
I wondered...as we beheld the world about us
I knew...as I beheld the cosmos about me
Compelled towards the spiritual black dimensions aura
As I reached for outer dimensions my spirit became complete...
05 Bringer of the Sixth Sun (06:32)
I drank a goblet of fire
I cut out the prophet's tongue
But still the sun refused to move
I tore a hole in the web of sanity
The very fabric of life itself
But still this flesh refused to burn
What a humble vision!
To forever dwell by the grace of the sun
I gathered the moon and the stars
In my little pouch of planets
The renesance of astral flesh
Dripping and drooling with universal thirst
Equelibrium going under
In such an idle state of death
Sowing the seeds of a new dimension
I am the conqueror in his petty paradise
Spinning around in a garden of lush blooming death
Point at the sun and I will be there
And the angels scattered and bleeding
Will be the fundament of my empire
And admidst all this forlorn beauty
...I still laughed at the end.
06 Dragonheart (04:52)
We demand a change of seasons
Aurora painted black
Elemental subtraction
The presence lost it's time
For those yet to witness
For those yet to see
Breathe and bathe in anticipation
Of life's hypocrisy
Distorted by the essence - completed by lies
Decieved by the crystal void - configurate in passion
So bold in it's disguise - this be the fate of mankind
A greater cosmic vision - let the fires roar!
The astral bewitchment is at hand
The planetary black elements
Reveals it's dragonheart...
We demand a change of existance
And who are you to defy?
Ironic is the worlds dismay...
We command and you obey!
Distorted by the essence - completed by lies
Decieved by the crystal void - configurate in passion
So bold in it's disguise - this be the fate of mankind
A greater cosmic vision - let the fires roar!
The astral bewitchment is at hand
The planetary black elements
Reveals it's dragonheart...
08 Chariots of Thunder (05:48)
Like crusades across the infinite
Night swallowed light
Cursed were the minions rebellion
An image of the serpents creation
Reveal and enter the passage
Enter into the phantoms fire
Constellation - a unity in chaos
The chariots of thunders arrival
Sent fragments of my reflection to the void afire
Behold the new breed created in my own image
Brighter these eyes burned with wicked anticipation
As the struggle for the black elements came to an end
...A prescious mingeling of the flesh and alien fire
Held dreaming hands beneath the power to universal creation
And became the utter perfection of total completion
Breathe the untouched majesty of dark emotions
And feel the power...the beauty of domination
...Conquering the weavers Utopia...
To see them in such swarms
I wondered if this could be paradise
A seed for the future
The fire of fate and faith set alight
...Behold the faithless and his angel...
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