| The Kovenant "Animatronic" Nuclear Blast , 1999 Lord Pale : Norway's Covenant return under the new guise of The Kovenant . The name change is appropriate because now only Nagash , Blackheart and Hellhammer remain from the "Nexus Polaris" line up . The music has also radically changed , but the familiar Covenant groove still pervades throughout the album . Blackhearts guitars are now tuned a little heavier but he still plays his familiar rocky riffs . The female vocals are still intact if not more incorporated into the music . The music is basically Covenant with some techno-ish themes containing influences from Fear Factory and even a little Marilyn Manson I am told can be heard on "Mannequin" . Nagash still has his snat though now it's a little more abrasive and intelligible and he also does some nice deeper clean vocals for the occasional chorus . Covenant coped a lot of shit for this album being called a sellout from the blackmetal community , but this isn't a blackmetal album , this is a beautifully crafted piece of cyber metal . If you like Nexus Polaris and/or Fear Factory chances are you'll enjoy this album . Note - contains a cover of Babylon Zoo's "Spaceman" . Favourite Tracks - Mirrors Paradise ; New World Order ; In The Name Of The Future Mark - 8.5/10 SECOND OPINION Gloon : The wankers did a version of spaceman, enough said. Favourite Tracks - none Mark - 4/10 The Kovenant 'SETI' Nuclear Blast, 2003 Lord Pale: The Kovenant's new album sees the band developing further away from their metal roots and deeper into the electronica field that they experimented with on Animatronic. SETI is a lot slower ( imagine a whole album of Mannequin style tracks ) and softer hitting album than its predeccessor with fewer rasped vocals and less powerful guitar sections. Infact take away the vocals, the keyboards, the samples and the distortion on the guitars and the whole guitar/drum track could have come of a funk album. Speaking of the drums, why Hellhammer is still in this band is a little perplexing and the man claims he wants to expand himself as a percussionist and I think he could have likely done the drum tracks for SETI during his afternoon nap. Its certainly not all bad however and Nagash's deep cl;ean vocals still duet well with the female operatic vocals quite well during some of the chorus' along with some welcome robotic style vocals being used. However to counteract this Nagash predominately sings in his screechy rasp and a newer style of clean ( insert 'gay' or 'whinging' ) voice. Another problem detracting from the albums appeal is the lyrics. I very much like the idea of Sci/Fi metal, but the lyrics in SETI are all quite immature and bland and some potentially good ideas were wasted by being oversimplified and down right stupid in some cases ( see 'Planet Of The Apes' ) and much the same can be said for the rest of the album. Instead of orchestral synth and twinkling piano, we have cheap b grade Sci/Fi come Scooby Doo style keyboards that appear throughout practically every song on the album. Add in two bonus tracks for the version I reviewed 'Subtopia' a promising track destroyed by lame lyrics/vocal performance, and a barely recognisable cover of Metallica's 'The Memory Remains' and you have overall a highly disappointing album from a highly talented band capable of much, much more. Favourite Tracks - Star By Star ; The Perfect End ; Hollow Earth Mark - 6/10 |
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