I know a lot of you "true underground" folks are pointing fingers at this Norwegian band; calling them "fakes", "spaceship gayboys", etc but are you just putting up a front and compromising the value of their music or are you really honest to yourself? I personally dislike those little no-talent juveniles jumping on this northern bandwagon for the sake of trend and fat hopes. But for those few who can convince with music, I salute them (and I won't be the last to say that I actually enjoy Dimmu Borgir's majestic "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant" to the LAME ballads of "For All Tid" on a "true" label like No Colours). For Covenant's case, I'm a fan of all their albums. While the latter has a somewhat progressive space age sci-fi (a concept which I've always hated but they did it well!) theme in them, their debut CD "In Times Before the Light" is a venture into the dark, haunting realms of fantasy and the majestic dark ages. Music is composed on a grandiose scale, with raw but rich guitar textures laid over catchy, atmospheric lines. The symphonic touch to the music brings about a soundtrack-like majesty. I envisioned myself travelling through dark landscapes and old forgotten castles as the astral music combination strides over ghostly midtempos and cruel voices. Some of the more impressive tracks are "From the Storm of Shadows", "Night of the Blackwinds", "Visions of a Lost Kingdom" and the extremely outstanding title track "In Times Before the Light" (check out the chorus!). As with all the other GREAT NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL (not that most Scandinavian stuffs are impressive though) albums that are now denounced as "TRENDIES" by the "true underground", this CD is a truly inspirational piece of work. I wonder why so many idiots actually enjoy shitty stuffs like I Shalt Become and neglected real quality...

© 2000 vasp necrogoat