The Kovenant On Touring ‘Nexus Polaris’

‘We’ve been accused of church burnings. We’ve been accused of everything, the whole thing that happened and it’s all my friends and acquaintances. So, we were very much a part of the whole same thing, except we never killed anyone. So, nobody made a movie about us. But we were the first Norwegian extreme metal band to win a Grammy award in Norway. Two times in a row we got for ‘Nexus’ and on ‘Animatronic’ So that was also interesting!’

Chatting with Nagash, founder of The Kovenant – previously Covenant – on the eve of his and the band’s first trip to Australia, is enthralling. The stories and history of a scene often shied away from media is as compelling as the man is genial and forthcoming with information. In fact, I barely say anything.

‘I’ve never been to Australia before. Everybody else has in the band, not me. The whole business side of things, I prefer to let management do all the bookings, so I have no idea where we’re going to play, where we’re going to show up. They just call me and say, “You’re going to Australia in a couple of months,” and then Japan and China and places. So, I have no idea where we’re going to play until I get that call.’

This tour has been created off the back of a successful 2024 revival run of the bands 1998 hit Nexus Polaris, the album the band won its first Norwegian Grammy award, which has since grown legs and taken them around the world.

‘It’s been very humbling experience, a very awesome experience as well. Originally, it started out as let’s just do a couple of shows with the ‘Nexus’ album, because I managed to get the whole line-up from that album back together again. We had such a good time playing together that we’re doing 90 plus minutes now where we’re playing songs from all the albums. So, we’re playing half of the ‘Animatronic’ album. We’re doing songs from ‘SETI’, the last one. We’re also doing several songs from the first album. So, you’re going to get a whole discography, some early Norwegian Black Metal, then we lean into the more electronic industrial stuff. You’re going to get the whole thing when we’re coming over. So, it’s not just ‘Nexus Polaris’ we’re doing. But honestly, I didn’t want to do this. I was in a different place in life.’

Say what?

‘Hellhammer managed to convince me. He’s very persuasive. He’s like, “You’re going to come to this meeting. We’re going to meet up. We’re going to hang out again. Are you going to do this?” So I said, “Yeah, sure, fine. Let’s meet up.” We went to our first rehearsal. I went to the Mayhem rehearsal place just to try out shit. Hellhammer goes, “Let’s just fucking play the first song of ‘Nexus’ and just see how it goes.” After the first song, we were all standing there giggling like little girls. “Hey, this is fucking awesome.”

‘I said, “If we’re going to do this now, we’re going to do it full on. We’re going to bring the band back fully, not just several shows and that’s it.” Which is also why we started writing music together again, just to see how it was, and it went so well that we now have eight new songs for a new album. Going to write two more, and then we’re going to go to the studio. So, we’re definitely back and we’re going to do more music as well.’

The gift that keeps giving it seems. The Kovenant though started as black metal and ventured into Industrial as they evolved. Where does the new music stand sonically one wonders?

‘It’s a mix between all the albums. Since we also have two new guitarists, we have Ghul, Charles from Mayhem. We also have Kine Hult. They bring in their own unique style and way of writing music. We have some demos already. I’ve sent it to some people so they can hear it, and everybody said immediately “Wow, this sounds like The Kovenant, but it sounds like a mix between all your albums.” So, you’re going to get the early ’90s symphonic black metal. We even have blast beats now on some of the new songs, which we haven’t had since the fucking ’90s!’

‘Then there’s also tracks which remind you more of ‘Animatronic’ mixed with ‘Nexus Polaris’ stuff so it’s going to be very interesting to see what people think of it. But on the other hand, I never listen to what fans want. I always do what I want to do, which is why I always do different types of albums and they never sound the same. I would rather disappoint someone’s expectations than repeat myself.’

‘We just stay true, which is what that means. True Norwegian black metal. It means staying true to yourself. It doesn’t mean to conform to a certain template that you have to look like this, you have to sound like this, you have to write music like this, write lyrics like this. I think also that’s one of the reasons why Nordic or Scandinavian metal in general, extreme music hasn’t died. It’s still very much vibrant because people do whatever the hell they want. You have weird bands who are putting fucking banjos and bluegrass into black metal or some weird jazz electronic techno stuff or whatever. But it’s still metal. It’s still extreme.’

The Norwegian black metal scene, for the uninitiated, became notorious and doused in scandal in the early 90’s through a series of church burnings, murders and even alleged cannibalism. Nagash was a young teenager starting out at the time and many from that era have tried to distance themselves from the dark cloud, as success came calling in the way of mainstream, political and cultural acknowledgment.

‘The whole thing is in the beginning when we started, there wasn’t black metal. It wasn’t there yet, the second wave of black metal. The only bands in Norway was Mayhem, things like this. It was just a handful of Norwegian bands. Funnily enough, a lot of bands were doing the same type of music at the same time without knowing about it all over the country. So, when we started this, it’s hilarious because we’re like 13, 14 years old, late ’80s, early ’90s, and we tried to play death metal. But when you’re 13, you don’t sound like Chris Barnes from Cannibal Corpse. Vocals turned very high-pitched. We didn’t know that you have to tune down your guitars. We didn’t know about that stuff. Basically black metal to me in many ways is an artist failing at playing death metal, and it turned into a whole new genre!’

Then came the Grammys, as the band broke the glass ceiling and picked up two of them.

‘We did not think we’re going to win at all, so we didn’t prepare anything. We’re sitting there at the award show and they announced that the winner is The Kovenant and the whole band went, “What the fuck did he just say? Oh, I guess we have to go up and accept some award now. All right.” So, I went up there drunk as fuck, chewing gum and drinking a beer at the same time. I didn’t prepare a speech, I just went out and said, “Thank you very much. None of you fucking people have heard about us before but thank you.” So, it was a very interesting moment, that whole thing.’

‘It was also the first steps where Black Metal in Norway started to become more accepted as a cultural phenomenon instead of being just some weird underground thing of murderers and church burners. It started to be taken more as a serious form of art, and it became a huge part of the culture. So now even Norwegian politicians, they have to take a week-long course in learning about fucking Norwegian black metal so they can talk about it while travelling around. It’s just fucking hilarious to me!’

Now Nagash takes on the role of Norwegian dignitary bringing this cultural phenomenon around the world, and in this case, Australia.

‘It’s like going to another planet, so it’s restricted how much stuff and things we can bring with us other than the music. The Kovenant has always been into technology and the future when it comes to utilising new equipment. We don’t, for example, use amplifiers on stage. We don’t have base amplifiers, cabinets, anything like this. We all wear in-ear monitoring systems. People have commented they think I’ve become senile and don’t remember my own lyrics and shit because I have an iPad which is attached to my microphone stand, but it’s mixing for my own inner system.’

‘We’re playing the whole ‘Nexus Polaris’ album in full. I fucking hate mixing up things, then we go into another album, we go into another album, and then we finish with the first album. I don’t like doing all these rock and roll shows where you have Christmas tree lights and things like that. I prefer it to be more like a theatre experience when we do this stuff. So, it’s full-on makeup, full on fucking gear, everything. You’re not going to see us in green shorts and a Green Day t-shirt saying “Hey guys, yay!” So, it’s full on.’

Interview By Iain McCallum

Catch The Kovenant on the following dates, tickets from SWD Presents…