In Times Before the Light is the first studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 from Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 black metal

Black metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

 band, The Kovenant

The Kovenant

The Kovenant is a Norwegian black metal band from Oslo/Hamar. The band originally formed 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....

, and was released in 1997 through Mordgrimm.

Album History

In Times Before the Light is the first album The Kovenant (at that time called Covenant) created back in 1995. The only members at the time were Nagash and Blackheart. The album is considered to be symphonic black metal

Symphonic black metal

Symphonic black metal is a black metal subgenre that emerged in the mid to late 1990s. The genre is known for its symphonic and orchestral elements and is centralized in Europe.-Characteristics:...

 and provided Covenant a good fan base in Norway. The album was created when Nagash and Blackheart were of young age, at least 17 years old. The release was significantly delayed due to loss of album artwork in shipment to the record company.

A re-recorded version of In Times Before the Light was released in 2002 through Hammerheart Records due to Nagash and Blackheart (now 'Lex Icon' and 'Psy Coma') citing that they were not satisfied with the original release. Covenant were also forced to change their name to The Kovenant due to a dispute with a Swedish electronic band of the same name. The outcome is significantly different from the original; an industrial version of the original symphonic black metal album. The remixed tracks are longer, various elements were added to them and many parts were re-recorded.

The album was re-released in 2007 through VME/Head Not Found as In Times Before the Light 1995, with tracks from their 1994 demo From the Storm of Shadows as bonus content. The material was remastered by Tom Kvalsvoll.

On october 29, 2011, Nagash did a one-time only performance of the entire album at the Aurora Infernalis III festival in Arnhem

Arnhem

Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. Except for Nagash, no other members of the current incarnation of the band participated.

Original album

1. "Towards the Crown of Nights" – 5:53
2. "Dragonstorms" – 4:59
3. "The Dark Conquest" – 6:56
4. "From the Storm of Shadows" – 5:15
5. "Night of the Blackwinds" – 3:41
6. "The Chasm" – 3:46
7. "Visions of a Lost Kingdom" – 3:27
8. "Through the Eyes of the Raven" – 5:02
9. "In Times Before the Light" – 6:01
10. "Monarchs of the Mighty Darkness" – 5:54

Remixed version

1. "Towards the Crown of Nights" – 6:30
2. "Dragonstorms" – 5:20
3. "The Dark Conquest" – 7:39
4. "From the Storm of Shadows" – 5:35
5. "Night of the Blackwinds" – 3:57
6. "The Chasm" – 4:39
7. "Visions of a Lost Kingdom" – 5:57
8. "Through the Eyes of the Raven" – 5:05
9. "In Times Before the Light" – 6:04
10. "Monarchs of the Mighty Darkness" – 6:16

Re-release bonus tracks

1. "In Times Before the Light" – 6:25
2. "Visions of a Lost Kingdom" – 3:05
3. "From The Storm of Shadows" – 6:08

Personnel

• Nagash
  Stian Arnesen
  Nagash or Lex Icon is a Norwegian black metal musician. He plays guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and does vocals....
  
   (Stian Arnesen, N. Blackheart in original liner notes) – Vocals/Drums/Synth
• Blackheart (Amund Svensson, T. Blackheart in original liner notes) – Guitars/Bass/Synth

Other information

• Engineered by Sire Johannesen; produced by both Covenant & Sire Johannesen
• Digitally mastered at The Exchange; executive production by Noctis Irae
• All symphonies arranged & composed by Covenant during the period 1992-1995
• All poetry penned by Covenant between the years 1993-1995
• Cover painting by Alex Kurtagić
  Supernal Music
  Alex Kurtagić , born 1970 and residing in the United Kingdom, is a radical traditionalist, racial-realist, elitist, pro-White activist and author on the Alternative and New Right author, artist, musician, publisher, translator, interviewer, blogger, movie and book reviewer, prolific writer,...
  
  
• Logo by Christophe Szpajdel
• Portraits taken by Close Up
• Art design conceived by Covenant
• Layout and design executed by Digitalis