History Music / TheKovenant

* EpicInstrumentalOpener

Their fifth official album, ''Aria Galactica'', has been in DevelopmentHell since 2003, to the dismay of many fans. The band has not officially split up (even playing live shows from time to time during the nearly decade-long hiatus), but its leader Stian Arnesen has been preoccupied with his other band Troll, and they reportedly cannot find a record label to release ''Aria Galactica'' on. After ''SETI'', The Kovenant [[UpdatedRerelease re-released]] ''Nexus Polaris'' and ''In Times Before the Light'' under their new name, though the tracks were kept in their original form, unlike 2002's remake of ''In Times Before the Light'' which was given a more Industrial Metal sound than the original.

** In many ways the GenreShift makes it hard to quantify things. {{Industrial}} is hard/harsh in a completely different matter to BlackMetal. Most {{Industrial}} relies on very heavy, distorted drums but has a much slower pace, and BlackMetal drumming is much faster but each individual drum sound is usually significantly lighter to its {{Industrial}} equivalent. Both genres often use very harsh vocals, but these effects are accomplished in entirely different ways. So as such, calling IndustrialMetal LighterAndSofter relative to BlackMetal is in many respects an apples-and-oranges comparison. Additionally, TheKovenant were never the most violent BlackMetal band, they always used a very significant amount of lush melody.

* SopranoAndGravel: Done alongside Sara Jezebel Deva, who is best known as being the longtime female vocalist for Music/CradleOfFilth, in ''Nexus Polaris''. However, her vocals on the album (called "Starsong" [[ItsAllThereInTheManual in the CD booklet]]) are all either wordless background vocalization or simply backing up Nagash's vocals; she doesn't get any lyrics of her own.

* TakeOverTheWorld: The track "The Dark Conquest" from ''In Times Before the Light'' is about doing this, and [[EvilFeelsGood bringing forth the foreverwinter and forevernight.]]

Norwegian metal group The Kovenant, formed in 1992 by Stian Arnesen (aka Nagash, Lex Icon) and Amund Svensson (aka Blackheart, Psy Coma, Pzy Clone), was known simply as Covenant once, and even released their first two albums, ''In Times Before the Light'' in 1995 and ''Nexus Polaris'' in 1997, under the name. Trouble arose when an {{Industrial}} group also called Music/{{Covenant}} sued them and forced them to change their name. Ironically, The Kovenant changed its musical style from a Symphonic Black Metal sound to a more electronically-influenced style (which the band called "Progressive Space Metal") shortly afterward with ''Animatronic'' in 1999, and they moved to a very IndustrialMetal-influenced sound with ''SETI'' in 2003. Opinions differ on whether this was GrowingTheBeard or JumpingTheShark, depending on one's musical preferences.

* LastNoteHilarity: "Bizarre Cosmic Industries" is a very beautiful piece with a long piano solo and great female vocals from Sara Jezebel Deva, but for some inexplicable reason, they chose to end the song with [[{{Narm}} rather silly]] "BOOOIIINNNGGG" sound.

Norwegian metal group The Kovenant, formed in 1992 by Stian Arnesen (aka Nagash, Lex Icon) and Amund Svensson (aka Blackheart, Psy Coma, Pzy Clone), was known simply as Covenant once, and even released their first two albums, ''In Times Before The Light'' in 1995 and ''Nexus Polaris'' in 1997, under the name. Trouble arose when an {{Industrial}} group also called Music/{{Covenant}} sued them and forced them to change their name. Ironically, The Kovenant changed its musical style from a Symphonic Black Metal sound to a more electronically-influenced style (which the band called "Progressive Space Metal") shortly afterward with ''Animatronic'' in 1999, and they moved to a very IndustrialMetal-influenced sound with ''SETI'' in 2003. Opinions differ on whether this was GrowingTheBeard or JumpingTheShark, depending on one's musical preferences.

Their fifth official album, ''Aria Galactica'', has been in DevelopmentHell since 2003, to the dismay of many fans. The band has not officially split up (even playing live shows from time to time during the nearly decade-long hiatus), but its leader Stian Arnesen has been preoccupied with his other band Troll, and they reportedly cannot find a record label to release ''Aria Galactica'' on. After ''SETI'', The Kovenant [[UpdatedRerelease re-released]] ''Nexus Polaris'' and ''In Times Before The Light'' under their new name, though the tracks were kept in their original form, unlike 2002's remake of ''In Times Before The Light'' which was given a more Industrial Metal sound than the original.

* CoverAlbum: In an interesting twist on the trope, the band remade one of its own albums, ''In Times Before The Light'', giving it a more electronic sound. It's basically The Kovenant covering Covenant.
* DevelopmentHell: ''Aria Galactica'', to almost ''[[Music/GunsNRoses Chinese Democracy]]'' levels by this point.

* EndlessWinter: ''In Times Before The Light'' focuses on a combination of this trope and TheNightThatNeverEnds. The phrase "Forever winter, Forever night" appears in a few songs, and the song "Through the Eyes of the Raven" appears to be about beckoning 'King Winter' to bring about an endless winter.

* EvilFeelsGood: Just listen to the lyrics to the songs on ''In Times Before The Light''.
* FadingIntoTheNextSong: Done with most of the songs on the remake of ''In Times Before the light''.
* IAmGreatSong: "Towards the Crown Of Night", "The Dark Conquest" in fact most songs on ''In Times Before the Light'' have at least a line or two of this.
* {{IAmSong}}: "Towards the Crown Of Night" is this for a couple verses.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Particularly with their first two albums, such as the tracks "Dragonstorm", "Dragonheart" and "Last of the Dragons". Some of the CD art for ''In Times Before The Light'' included a medieval-looking dragon painting.

* LighterAndSofter: The band has moved towards this over the years. Though ''SETI'' is by no means upbeat and cheerful on its own, compared to ''In Times Before The Light'' it is.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: They were about a 9 for their first two albums, it varies by song on ''Animatronic'' but they've generally never been lower than a 6 on ''SETI''. But the GenreShift makes it harder to measure its hardness by the same standards.
* NamesTheSame: Which is why they lost their lawsuit with the Swedish Industrial band also called Covenant and had to change their name.

* OminousPipeOrgan: On the original ''In Times Before The Light''.

* ScheduleSlip: Every year some official source states that ''Aria Galactica'' is going to be coming out within the year, and every year, it never happens.

* TakeOverTheWorld: The track "The Dark Conquest" from ''In Times Before The Light'' is about doing this, and [[EvilFeelsGood bringing forth the foreverwinter and forevernight.]]
* WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings: Lex Icon reportedly stopped blogging because of fans pestering him about the changes to their music.
** One also wonders if this might be the reason for the new album being in DevelopmentHell for so long.

* SopranoAndGravel: Done alongside Sara Jezebel Deva, who is best known as being the longtime female vocalist for Music/CradleOfFilth, in ''Nexus Polaris''. Although she had no spoken lyrics for the album, only background vocalization (called "Starsong" [[ItsAllThereInTheManual in the CD booklet]]).

* ''In Times Before the Light'' (made in 1995, released in '97)

* DevelopmentHell: ''Aria Galactica'', to almost ''[[GunsNRoses Chinese Democracy]]'' levels by this point.

* SopranoAndGravel: Done alongside Sara Jezebel Deva, who is best known as being the longtime female vocalist for CradleOfFilth, in ''Nexus Polaris''. Although she had no spoken lyrics for the album, only background vocalization (called "Starsong" [[ItsAllThereInTheManual in the CD booklet]]).

Their fifth official album, ''Aria Galactica'', has been in DevelopmentHell since 2003, to the dismay of many fans. The band has not officially split up (even playing live shows from time to time during the nearly decade-long hiatus), but its leader Stian Arnesen has been preoccupied with his other band Troll. After ''SETI'', The Kovenant [[UpdatedRerelease re-released]] ''Nexus Polaris'' and ''In Times Before The Light'' under their new name, though the tracks were kept in their original form, unlike 2002's remake of ''In Times Before The Light'' which was given a more Industrial Metal sound than the original.

* CoverVersion: In an interesting twist on the trope, the band remade one of its own albums, ''In Times Before The Light'', giving it a more electronic sound. It's basically The Kovenant covering Covenant.

Norwegian metal group The Kovenant, formed in 1992 by Stian Arnesen (aka Nagash, Lex Icon) and Amund Svensson (aka Blackheart, Psy Coma, Pzy Clone), was known simply as Covenant once, and even released their first two albums, ''In Times Before The Light'' in 1995 and ''Nexus Polaris'' in 1997, under the name. Trouble arose when an {{Industrial}} group also called Music/{{Covenant}} sued them and forced them to change their name. Ironically, The Kovenant changed its musical style from a Symphonic Black Metal sound to a more electronically-influenced style (which the band called "Progressive Space Metal") shortly afterward with ''Animatronic'' in 1999, and they moved to a very IndustrialMetal-influenced sound with ''SETI'' in 2003. Opinions differ on whether this was GrowingTheBeard or JumpingTheShark, depending on ones musical preferences.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: They were about a 9 for their first two albums, it varies by song on ''Animatronic'' but they've generally never been lower than a 6 on ''SETI''. But the GenreShift makes it harder to measure it's hardness by the same standards.

* {{I Am Song}}: "Towards the Crown Of Night" is this for a couple verses.

* {{IAmSong}}: "Towards the Crown Of Night" is this for a couple verses.

* IAmSong: "Towards the Crown Of Night" is this for a couple verses.

Norwegian metal group The Kovenant, formed in 1992 by Stian Arnesen (aka Nagash, Lex Icon) and Amund Svensson (aka Blackheart, Psy Coma, Pzy Clone), was known simply as Covenant once, and even released their first two albums, ''In Times Before The Light'' in 1995 and ''Nexus Polaris'' in 1997, under the name. Trouble arose when an {{Industrial}} group also called {{Music/Covenant}} sued them and forced them to change their name. Ironically, The Kovenant changed its musical style from a Symphonic Black Metal sound to a more electronically-influenced style (which the band called "Progressive Space Metal") shortly afterward with ''Animatronic'' in 1999, and they moved to a very IndustrialMetal-influenced sound with ''SETI'' in 2003. Opinions differ on whether this was GrowingTheBeard or JumpingTheShark, depending on ones musical preferences.

* EraSpecificPersonality: The band members, who changed their looks and their stage names with the release of ''SETI''.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Particularly with their first two albums, such as the tracks "Dragonstorm", "Dragonheart" and "Last of the Dragons". Some of the CD art for ''In Times Before The Light'' included a medieval-looking dragon painting.

** In many ways the GenreShift makes it hard to quantify things. {{Industrial}} is hard/harsh in a completely different matter to BlackMetal. Most {{Industrial}} relies on very heavy, distorted drums but has a much slower pace, and BlackMetal drumming is much faster but each individual drum sound is usually significantly lighter to its {{Industrial}} equivalent. Both genres often use very harsh vocals, but these effects are accomplished in entirely different ways. So as such, calling IndustrialMetal LighterAndSofter relative to BlackMetal is in many respects an apples-and-oranges comparison. Additionally, TheKovenant were never the most violent BlackMetal band, they always used a very significant amount of lush melody.

* NietzscheWannabe: Subverted. The band's lyrics are heavily influenced by FriedrichNietzsche, but they've arguably ShownTheirWork.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: They were about a 9 for their first two albums, it varies by song on ''Animatronic'' but they've generally never been lower than a 6 on ''SETI''.

Norwegian metal group The Kovenant, formed in 1992 by Stian Arnesen (aka Nagash, Lex Icon) and Amund Svensson (aka Blackheart, Psy Coma, Pzy Clone), was known simply as Covenant once, and even released their first two albums, ''In Times Before The Light'' in 1995 and ''Nexus Polaris'' in 1997, under the name. Trouble arose when an {{Industrial}} group also called {{Covenant}} sued them and forced them to change their name. Ironically, The Kovenant changed its musical style from a Symphonic Black Metal sound to a more electronically-influenced style (which the band called "Progressive Space Metal") shortly afterward with ''Animatronic'' in 1999, and they moved to a very IndustrialMetal-influenced sound with ''SETI'' in 2003. Opinions differ on whether this was GrowingTheBeard or JumpingTheShark, depending on ones musical preferences.

** In many ways the GenreShift makes it hard to quantify things. {{Industrial}} is hard/harsh in a completely different matter to BlackMetal. Most {{Industrial}} relies on very heavy, distorted drums but has a much slower pace, and BlackMetal drumming is much faster but each individual drum sound is usually significantly lighter to its {{Industrial}} equivalent. Both genres often use very harsh vocals, but these effects are accomplished in entirely different ways. So as such, calling IndustrialMetal LighterAndSofter relative to BlackMetal is in many respects an apples-and-oranges comparison. Additionally, TheKovenant were never the most violent BlackMetal band, they always used a very significant amount of lush melody. In short, {{YMMV}}.

* AlbumTitleDrop: For ''Nexus Polaris'' on the track "Planetary Black Elements".

* LastNoteNightmare: "Bizarre Cosmic Industries" is a very beautiful piece with a long piano solo and great female vocals from Sara Jezebel Deva, but for some inexplicable reason, they chose to end the song with [[{{Narm}} rather silly]] "BOOOIIINNNGGG" sound.