Covenant - Nexus Polaris (1998)

intothewellsabyss
Mar 24, 2023
4 min read

𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…

Covenant - Nexus Polaris (1998)

Tracklist:

01. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚞𝚕𝚙𝚑𝚞𝚛 𝙵𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝 (4:10)

02. 𝙱𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚎 𝙲𝚘𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝙸𝚗𝚍𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 (5:51)

03. 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚞𝚖 (4:01)

04. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝙾𝚏 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚜 (6:28)

05. 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝙾𝚏 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚑 𝚂𝚞𝚗 (6:32)

06. 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 (4:52)

07. 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙴𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 (5:50)

08. 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚝𝚜 𝙾𝚏 𝚃𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 (5:48)

(𝙼𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙽𝚞𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙽𝚎𝚡𝚞𝚜 𝙿𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚜)

The Theatricons:

• Nagash – 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜, 𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚜

• Blackheart – 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

• Astennu – 𝙶𝚞𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚜

• Sverd – 𝙺𝚎𝚢𝚋𝚘𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜

• Sarah Jezebel Deva – 𝚅𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚜

• Hellhammer – 𝙳𝚛𝚞𝚖𝚜

Production & Layout:

• Per Heimly – 𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚢

• Flea Black – 𝙰𝚛𝚝𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔, 𝙻𝚊𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚝

• Mathias – 𝙴𝚗𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐

• Siggi Bemm – 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚎𝚛, 𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐

• Andreas Marschall – 𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝙰𝚛𝚝

• Christophe Szpajdel – 𝙱𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙻𝚘𝚐𝚘

Overview:

Covenant released their second full-length studio album, Nexus Polaris on March 24th, 1998 via Nuclear Blast.

This is the final album that the band would release under their Covenant name, as the proceeding year the group would change their name (and musical style) to The Kovenant.

𝙽𝚘𝚝𝚎:

𝙸𝚗 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟿, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 The Kovenant 𝚍𝚞𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚞𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚠𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚑 𝙴𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎. 𝙳𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚢𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎, The Kovenant 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 The Kovenant 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎.

Background:

The band was formed as Covenant in 1993 by two Black Metal artists known as Nagash and Blackheart. They both met when Blackheart decided to help Nagash with his one-man project Troll. They garnered little attention after releasing a demo titled From the Storm of Shadows, but eventually a record label, Mordgrimm, took notice of them and released their first album In Times Before the Light in 1997. This album was recorded two years prior in 1995 and established them a fan base in Norway. It sounds similar to Dimmu Borgir's first opus For All Tid. Indeed, Nagash is a long-time friend to the lead vocalist of Dimmu Borgir, Shagrath.

(𝙽𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚜𝚑)

Nagash and Blackheart had greater ambitions for the band and wanted better production and pay for their music. Record label Nuclear Blast caught eye of the band and Covenant (as the band was known at that time) signed with them.

(𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝)

In preparation for a new album, Nagash and Blackheart wanted to form an actual band this time around. In 1998 they recruited four other members to form this band. These people were Astennu (of Carpe Tenebrum, and who was playing in Dimmu Borgir at the time with Nagash), keyboardist Sverd (of Arcturus), Sarah Jezebel Deva (of Cradle of Filth and others), and Hellhammer (of Mayhem and others). Nagash took over bass and vocal duties while Blackheart took guitar, and with these new recruits, they released their second album, Nexus Polaris.

Nexus Polaris was hugely successful (due to Nuclear Blast's promotion) and allowed Covenant to do a two-week tour and was on national Norwegian television for six days. This was also a sign showing Covenant moving from Black Metal to a more Industrial Metal sound. Soon Covenant found themselves nominated for a Norwegian Grammy. They attended and won for Best Hard Rock band, the first ever.

Reissues:

Nexus Polaris was re-released in 2000 via Nuclear Blast which featured the bands new name (The Kovenant) and logo. The original tracks were left untouched (unlike the remixed edition of In Times Before the Light, also from 2002), but two versions of New World Order, a song from their 1999 album Animatronic, were included as a bonus.

(𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟶 𝙽𝚞𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚎-𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚘)

2000 Nexus Polaris (The Kovenant) Nuclear Blast Reissue Bonus Tracks:

09. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝙾𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 (𝙲𝚕𝚞𝚋𝚖𝚒𝚡 𝚋𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝 𝚂𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛) (4:26)

10. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝙾𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 (𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚒𝚡 𝚋𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝 𝚂𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛) (5:48)

Critical Reception:

Writing for AllMusic, Antti J. Ravelin states;

“Ironically speaking, Covenant sure are the bastard sons of Black Metal. Even though Covenant is a sort of a supergroup consisting of players who were involved with the notorious Norwegian Black Metal scene from its early days, they break all of the conservative rules of Black Metal with no shame at all. And the result, Nexus Polaris, sure sounds exciting. It isn't much of a masterpiece production-wise, but because of its noise, speed, and rawness it feels like a fine kick in your face. Filled with crunchy riffs, neo-classical-inspired leads, and keyboard fills, Nexus Polaris succeeds in being eclectic and structureless without falling into the usual pitfalls of its kind: Being mapless and therefore confusing. Nexus Polaris doesn't really have any standout tracks (apart from The SulphurFeast and The Last of Dragons, which are the best), but Nexus Polaris is excellent because it really doesn't have any bad tracks. But, depending of the listener, its obvious rawness and lack of decent production can be either intriguing or stressful. Either way, Nexus Polaris is a fine and innovative album.”

Note: 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 ) 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝) 𝚋𝚢 Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells