The Kovenant "Nexus Polaris"

Nexus Polaris is the second studio album by the Norwegian black metal band, The Kovenant, and was released in 1998 through Nuclear Blast.

The original album In Times Before the Light was successful at staging a fan base in the black metal scene in Norway. Nagash and Blackheart had greater ambitions for the band and wanted better production and pay for their music. Nuclear Blast caught eye of the band and Covenant (still known as that before the change) signed with them.

Starting the new album, Nagash and Blackheart wanted to form an actual band this time. They enlisted guitarist, Astennu (who was playing in Dimmu Borgir at the time with Nagash), keyboardist Sverd (of Arcturus), Sarah Jezebel Deva (of Cradle of Filth and other bands), and Hellhammer (of Mayhem). Nagash took over bass and vocal duties while Blackheart took guitar.

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 in history. 

A re-release of Nexus Polaris was made in 2002. 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.

Track listing

1. "The Sulphur Feast" 04:10
2. "Bizarre Cosmic Industries" 05:51
3. "Planetarium" 04:01
4. "The Last of Dragons" 06:28
5. "Bringer of the Sixth Sun" 06:32
6. "Dragonheart" 04:52
7. "Planetary Black Elements" 05:50
8. "Chariots of Thunder" 05:48

Total length: 43:32

2000 re-release bonus tracks

1. "New World Order" (Clubmix) 04:26
2. "New World Order" (Metalmix) 03:53

Total length: 51:51

Some pressings of the original release have the words "Of Norway" in small print under the logo on the front cover.

Recording information:

Recorded at Woodhouse Studios (Hagen) during August-September, 1997

Mastered at Woodhouse Studios, 1997