The Kovenant

Infobox musical artist
Name = The Kovenant


Landscape = yes
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Bergen, Norway
Genre = Industrial metal/Cyber metal (now) Melodic black metal (early)
Years_active = 1992−present
Label = Nuclear Blast
Associated_acts = Arcturus
Cradle of Filth
Dimmu Borgir
Mayhem
Ram-Zet
Troll
URL = [http://www.gentechranch.tk/ www.gentechranch.tk/]
Current_members = Lex Icon
Pzy-Clone
Past_members =

The Kovenant is a Norwegian band from Bergen which has evolved from melodic black metal to an industrial metal sound on more recent albums. The band originally formed as Covenant in 1992, but due to a dispute with a Swedish electro band that shared the same name (see Covenant), they were forced to have it changed to The Kovenant.

Biography

The Kovenant (then known as Covenant) was formed 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. No one seemed to pay attention to them after releasing a demo titled "From the Storm of Shadows", but finally 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.

Covenant signed with Nuclear Blast, a major German label dedicated to the hard rock scene, in 1998 and recruited four other members to form an actual band. These people were Astennu (of Dimmu Borgir, Carpe Tenebrum), Sverd (of Arcturus), Sarah Jezebel Deva (of Cradle of Filth and others), and Hellhammer (of Mayhem and others). With these new recruits, they released their second album, "Nexus Polaris", which was hugely successful (mainly thanks to Nuclear Blast's promotions) and is largely considered their best album to date by fans. The album also resulted in the band getting a Norwegian Grammy for Best Hard Rock Band and led to Nagash leaving Dimmu Borgir (for which he played bass) in order to concentrate fully on The Kovenant.

After the release of Nexus Polaris, Sverd, Astennu, and Sarah were fired for what Nagash has said to be "various reasons" in several interviews. Only Nagash, Blackheart, and Hellhammer remained. The band then found themselves being sued by Swedish band, Covenant (of the same name). The Swedish band argued that they owned the name "Covenant" as they had been known as Covenant before Nagash and Blackheart formed their band. Consequently, they were forced to change their name to The Covenant. Unfortunately, simply adding "The" in front of the name would not suffice, because a Dutch heavy metal band had been named The Covenant since 1988. So they added "The" and also replaced the "C" with a "K" to avoid any future confusions, leading to their permament name "The Kovenant".

In 1999, The Kovenant recorded and released "Animatronic", which portrayed a stylistic change from industrial/symphonic black metal to cyber thrash metal (although some people prefer to categorize it as cyber metal, space metal or Avant Garde metal -- all of which suggest a progressive influence). Soon the band changed their individual stage names to suit their new direction: Nagash became "Lex Icon", Blackheart became "Psy Coma", and Hellhammer became "Von Blomberg". The new album also afforded them another Norwegian Grammy and they gained a new member, Angel, while touring the USA. Although the new sound was frowned upon by some more traditional black metal listeners, the music also inspired other bands such as Black Nocturnal Darkness on their 2002 "Xenobite"-album.

After the "Animatronic" tour, Lex and Psy took a break and decided to re-record "In Times Before the Light". But Nuclear Blast wanted nothing to do with the album, so they changed labels and released it through Hammerheart Records. A re-release of "Nexus Polaris" took place as well during 2002.

In 2002, the band found themselves back in the studio, recording "S.E.T.I.", their fourth album. Von Blomberg decided to do more touring and left the band to handle other projects. Two new members were recruited: Küth (of Ram-Zet) on drums and Brat (of Apoptygma Berzerk) on keyboards. They then toured Europe and the USA to promote the album.

Currently the band is working on a DVD and a new album titled "Aria Galactica", due to be released sometime in 2008. Lex Icon announced recently that they have 14 pieces written so far. The album will come with a second disc comprised entirely of symphonic renditions of the tracks from the primary disc, which suggests a return to the more symphonic style exhibited by the band on their 1998 album Nexus Polaris.

Lex recently announced the following on [http://my.opera.com/thekovenant/blog/ his blog] :

"The Kovenant fans will have to wait a few more months for us to begin recording ARIA GALACTICA. Progress is slow but getting there.Working on the vocals atm, and finding a good studio that has open timeslotsARIA GALACTICA will be our best album... by far"

On July 31, 2006, Lex decided to stop his blogging due to fans being "know-it-alls" and telling him what he should do with his music. Therefore there will more than likely be no news from him about any Kovenant topics. Psy still maintains his blog, but it is unsure if he will continue blogging as well.

After much silence, Psy Coma was interviewed by Kovenant Italia.

Recently the band has announced that there will be a re-release of their 1997 album "In times before the light".

Band members

Current members

*Stian Arnesen (Nagash/Lex Icon) − vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, all music and lyrics (1993−present)
*Amund Svensson (Blackheart/Psy Coma/Pzy-Clone) − guitar, keyboards, all music and lyrics (1993−present)

ession/Tour members

*Audun Stengel (Angel) − guitar (2000−)
*Küth − Drums (2003−)
*Geir Bratland (Brat) − synth (2003−)

Former members

*Jamie Stinson (Astennu) − guitar (1998−1999)
*Steinar Sverd Johnsen − keyboards (1998)
*Sarah Jezebel Deva − female vocals (1998)
*Jan Axel Blomberg (Hellhammer/Von Blomberg) − drums (1998−2003)

Discography

tudio releases

*"In Times Before the Light" (1997)
*"Nexus Polaris" (1998)
*"Animatronic" (1999)
*"S.E.T.I." (2003)
*"Aria Galactica" (TBA)

EPs

*S.E.T.I. Club (2003)

Demos and bootlegs

*From the Storm of Shadows (Demo, 1994)
*"Wâldrock 2000" (Bootleg, 2000)
*"Fragments of Reality" (Bootleg, 2006)

External links

* [http://www.gentechranch.tk/ The Kovenant official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/thekovenant The Kovenant at Myspace]
* [http://www.nuclearblast.de/band_showa.php?artist=8 The Kovenant page at Nuclear Blast]
* [http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=92 The Kovenant at Encyclopaedia Metallum]
* [http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=5045 Covenant at Encyclopaedia Metallum]
* [http://www.bnrmetal.com/groups/kove.htm The Kovenant at BNR Metal Pages]
* [http://my.opera.com/thekovenant/blog/ Lex Icon's blog]
* [http://my.opera.com/blackdoordimension/about/ Psy Coma's blog]