The Kovenant "Animatronic"

Animatronic is the third studio album by the Norwegian industrial metal band, The Kovenant, and was released in 1999 through Nuclear Blast.

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 a Swedish band 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 permanent name "The Kovenant".

In 1999, The Kovenant recorded and released Animatronic, which portrayed a stylistic change to more industrial sound. 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.

Track listing

1. "Mirrors Paradise" 05:01
2. "New World Order" 04:30
3. "Mannequin" 05:00
4. "Sindrom" 05:30
5. "Jihad" 05:58
6. "The Human Abstract" 04:55
7. "Prophecies of Fire" 04:38
8. "In the Name of the Future" 04:56
9. "Spaceman" (Babylon Zoo cover) 05:23
10. "The Birth of Tragedy" 05:16

Total length: 51:07

CD comes in a slipcase for its first edition. A silver sticker with black lettering
"... ex - Covenant (N) ..." and the rating of the album in three magazines 
was on the slipcase.
The first catalog number is printed on the slipcase and jewelcase spines.
The second one is printed on the back cover (both slipcase and jewelcase) and the disc front. 

This was the beginning of the group taking an electronica approach towards their metal music.

All music and lyrics by The Kovenant, except "Spaceman" by Babylon Zoo.

Japanese bonus track:

1. New World Order (Remix by Mat Sinner)

Issued as a limited edition Pic-LP (Nuclear Blast Picture Disc Series).

Recording information:
Recorded at Woodhouse Studios.