RAGINPIT MAGAZINE

Kovenant - Nexus Polaris
Release Date: March 24, 1998

Tracklist:
1. The Sulphur Feast
2. Bizarre Cosmic Industries
3. Planetarium
4. The Last of Dragons
5. Bringer of the Sixth Sun
6. Dragonheart
7. Planetary Black Elements
8. Chariots of Thunder

Bonus tracks:
9. New World Order - Club mix
10. New World Order - Metal mix

Line up:
Stian Arnesen (Nagash) – Vocals/Bass
Amund Svensson (Blackheart) – Guitar
Astennu – Guitar
Sverd – Keyboards
Sarah Jezebel Deva – Female Vocals
Hellhammer – Drums

Sometimes a band creates an album that is so far above their usual work that it will become a classic. Remember Speak English Or Die from SOD? Neither Anthrax nor SOD or even the reunion of SOD itself have ever recorded anything that could stand in the shadow of the first SOD album. Nexus Polaris is for Kovenant/Covenant what Speak English Or Die was for SOD.

Originally the album was released under the name Covenant, but the band was forced to change their name due to legal reasons because there was another band with the same name in Sweden. This was also their last album with black metal influenced sound. The change into Kovenant also heralded a new style (more cyber gothic and industrial) and that switch was not taken well by the die hard fans.

Nexus Polaris covers everything between Black Metal, Dark Metal, a touch of Progressive Metal and of course the voice of Sarah Jezebel. After all these years Nexus Polaris is still a good album, despite being released in 1998. A good sound, great artwork and a cast of very talented musicians will do that. Other releases from that year might sound a bit dated, but Nexus Polaris is still a fresh piece of music.

Our friends from Metalmind (Poland) have been busy with releasing a lot of classic albums from the nineties and this is one of them. The bonus tracks are from The Kovenant and that is enough information for you. (I’m absolutely no fan from the current day Kovenant.)

www.myspace.com/thekovenant
www.metalmind.com.pl