On December 14, 2024, The Kovenant – featuring Stian “Nagash” Arnesen (vocals, bass), Steinar Sverd Johnsen (keyboards), Sarah Jezebel Deva (vocals), Jamie “Astennu” Stinson (guitars) and Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Blomberg (drums) – reunited for the first of several scheduled reunion shows at the Eindhoven Metal Meeting. It was their first show in over a decade. Metal Hammer recently spoke with Nagash and Sarah about the reunion and the band’s plans for the future. Check out the interview below.
On reuniting
Nagash: “Over the years, we kind of lost contact with each other because we’re so busy with other bands. Hellhammer has Mayhem, and some of the other guys have other (bands) like Arcturus and Dimmu Borgir. Sarah was involved with other stuff, like Therion and Cradle Of Filth and stuff. It started very randomly that we started just talking together again, and we all just clicked very easily together. So it went very fast when we said, like, ‘What if we actually fucking joined together again and started playing?’ And everyone said ‘Yes’ without hesitation. So we quickly started thinking, like. ‘Fuck, how should we start this?’ We found really great management — Håkon Grav, he does also Emperor and he used to work for Scream magazine – so I know him from there, in Norway. We managed to talk him into bringing us on, and it went just really fast from there. We just met, all of us had some quick rehearsals and it was like we never fucking stopped playing. It was, like, ‘Did we play last month?’ It was like a natural chemistry between all of us. So it was really fun to play together.”
“We have such good chemistry amongst all of us, and everyone is super dedicated to it. We’re not just going to do a few shows and then disappear again. We’re already writing new material. We have plans for the future. There are so many more shows which have been booked already and confirmed, but we haven’t announced them yet. I think a lot of people will be very surprised where we’re gonna show up.”
Sarah: “I think the level that we’re playing on now is extremely high. I hate to bring the word ‘age’ into it, but we’re older, we know what we want and we’ve evolved so much.”
On new music from The Kovenant
Nagash: “The new stuff we’re working on, it’s not going to be another Nexus Polaris. It will be similar because it’s the same bunch of people, but the new music is a combination of all the albums. But it will be more metal, more extreme. It will be a little bit backwards in time from SETI and Animatronic stuff, but it will still incorporate all the elements but plus new stuff, because we’ve all developed as people.”
The Kovenant have announced they are finally bringing their cosmic, dark symphony to Latin America, with plans to grace the stages in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. Their live schedule is now as follows:
May
1-3 – Karmøygeddon Metal Festival – Kopervik. Norway
August
31 – El Teatrito – Buenos Aires, Argentina
September
2 – Teatro Cariola – Santiago, Chile
4 – Astor Plaza – Bogotá, Colombia
6 – Candelabrum Metalfest – Léon, Mexico
The Kovenant recently released professionally-filmed footage of their Eindhoven Metal Meeting performance of “Chariots Of Thunder” from the show. Watch below:
The Kovenant performed the following setlist:
“The Sulphur Feast”
“Bizarre Cosmic Industries”
“Planetarium”
“The Last Of Dragons”
“Bringer Of The Sixth Sun”
“Dragonheart”
“Planetary Black Elements”
“Chariots Of Thunder”
“Interlude”
“Jihad”
“In The Name Of The Future”
“Towards The Crown Of Nights”
Watch fan-filmed video of the entire comeback show below:
Sarah Jezebel Deva shared the following message following the show:
“Seriously, hands down, the most incredible experience ever. So humble, so grateful and so ready for what’s next. I think this morning, I’m on a major come down, as usual I wear my heart on my sleeve and will always say what I feel, and I have to say, not only do I love these guys so much, but the crew also. What a team. I met some old friends and met some new friends that I had only met online and worked with. It’s been a long time since I’ve cried laughing, and I cried a lot…. laughing.. think maybe a bit of wee came out too…. Thank you.”
The Kovenant originally formed as a symphonic black metal act known as Covenant in 1993, but in 1999 were forced to change their name to The Kovenant due to a dispute with a Swedish electronic band of the same name. The band’s name change also marked a change in sound/style, as the band from there on began to focus more on an aggrotech / industrial metal sound heavily influenced by Europe’s EBM scene. Despite their style change, The Kovenant did however later reissue their early albums under The Kovenant name.
The post THE KOVENANT Talk Reunion And New Music In The Works – “We’re Not Just Going To Do A Few Shows And Then Disappear Again” (Video) appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
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On reuniting
Nagash: “Over the years, we kind of lost contact with each other because we’re so busy with other bands. Hellhammer has Mayhem, and some of the other guys have other (bands) like Arcturus and Dimmu Borgir. Sarah was involved with other stuff, like Therion and Cradle Of Filth and stuff. It started very randomly that we started just talking together again, and we all just clicked very easily together. So it went very fast when we said, like, ‘What if we actually fucking joined together again and started playing?’ And everyone said ‘Yes’ without hesitation. So we quickly started thinking, like. ‘Fuck, how should we start this?’ We found really great management — Håkon Grav, he does also Emperor and he used to work for Scream magazine – so I know him from there, in Norway. We managed to talk him into bringing us on, and it went just really fast from there. We just met, all of us had some quick rehearsals and it was like we never fucking stopped playing. It was, like, ‘Did we play last month?’ It was like a natural chemistry between all of us. So it was really fun to play together.”
“We have such good chemistry amongst all of us, and everyone is super dedicated to it. We’re not just going to do a few shows and then disappear again. We’re already writing new material. We have plans for the future. There are so many more shows which have been booked already and confirmed, but we haven’t announced them yet. I think a lot of people will be very surprised where we’re gonna show up.”
Sarah: “I think the level that we’re playing on now is extremely high. I hate to bring the word ‘age’ into it, but we’re older, we know what we want and we’ve evolved so much.”
On new music from The Kovenant
Nagash: “The new stuff we’re working on, it’s not going to be another Nexus Polaris. It will be similar because it’s the same bunch of people, but the new music is a combination of all the albums. But it will be more metal, more extreme. It will be a little bit backwards in time from SETI and Animatronic stuff, but it will still incorporate all the elements but plus new stuff, because we’ve all developed as people.”
The Kovenant have announced they are finally bringing their cosmic, dark symphony to Latin America, with plans to grace the stages in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. Their live schedule is now as follows:
May
1-3 – Karmøygeddon Metal Festival – Kopervik. Norway
August
31 – El Teatrito – Buenos Aires, Argentina
September
2 – Teatro Cariola – Santiago, Chile
4 – Astor Plaza – Bogotá, Colombia
6 – Candelabrum Metalfest – Léon, Mexico
The Kovenant recently released professionally-filmed footage of their Eindhoven Metal Meeting performance of “Chariots Of Thunder” from the show. Watch below:
The Kovenant performed the following setlist:
“The Sulphur Feast”
“Bizarre Cosmic Industries”
“Planetarium”
“The Last Of Dragons”
“Bringer Of The Sixth Sun”
“Dragonheart”
“Planetary Black Elements”
“Chariots Of Thunder”
“Interlude”
“Jihad”
“In The Name Of The Future”
“Towards The Crown Of Nights”
Watch fan-filmed video of the entire comeback show below:
Sarah Jezebel Deva shared the following message following the show:
“Seriously, hands down, the most incredible experience ever. So humble, so grateful and so ready for what’s next. I think this morning, I’m on a major come down, as usual I wear my heart on my sleeve and will always say what I feel, and I have to say, not only do I love these guys so much, but the crew also. What a team. I met some old friends and met some new friends that I had only met online and worked with. It’s been a long time since I’ve cried laughing, and I cried a lot…. laughing.. think maybe a bit of wee came out too…. Thank you.”
The Kovenant originally formed as a symphonic black metal act known as Covenant in 1993, but in 1999 were forced to change their name to The Kovenant due to a dispute with a Swedish electronic band of the same name. The band’s name change also marked a change in sound/style, as the band from there on began to focus more on an aggrotech / industrial metal sound heavily influenced by Europe’s EBM scene. Despite their style change, The Kovenant did however later reissue their early albums under The Kovenant name.
The post THE KOVENANT Talk Reunion And New Music In The Works – “We’re Not Just Going To Do A Few Shows And Then Disappear Again” (Video) appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
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