Nexus Polaris

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

This is the final album that the band would release under their Covenant name, as the proceeding year the group would change their name (and musical style) to The Kovenant, where they would begin performing electronic/industrial metal as opposed to symphonic black metal.

Album history
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. Record label Nuclear Blast caught eye of the band and Covenant (as the band was known at that time) 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.

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.

On 11 April 2024, The Kovenant posted a poster on their Facebook page saying they will be performing Nexus Polaris live in its entirety, starting in Eindhoven, The Netherlands on 13 and 14 of December. The caption reads "The first of many. Coming soon to a city near you. Nexus set plus songs from In Times Before The Light and Animatronic" teasing more shows coming up in the future.

Personnel

 * Nagash – vocals, bass
 * Blackheart – guitars
 * Astennu – guitar
 * Sverd – keyboards
 * Sarah Jezebel Deva – vocals
 * Hellhammer – drums

Additional personnel

 * Per Heimly – photography
 * Flea Black – artwork, layout
 * Mathias – engineering
 * Siggi Bemm – producer, mastering
 * Andreas Marschall – cover art
 * Christophe Szpajdel – logo