THE BLINDING DARK - 4TH OF NOVEMBER 2016

There is no Berlin Wall to defiantly dance on any more.

We live in dark, confusing times and Covenant wrote an album about how that makes them feel. In a world that’s stopped making sense, we need to learn how to see in the dark and ”The Blinding Dark” is a triumphant embrace of the strength and resilience of the soul. It’s the dystopian, unforgiving music of the reflective shadows we all carry within us, but often lack the courage to take a good look at. It’s implosive instead of explosive, fuelled by cold fury rather than a roaring fire, as beautiful as a collapsed star.

”The Blinding Dark” will make you feel the outrage and the sorrow of a band that refuses to smooth things over, put on a brave face and reach for false hopes. It’s staring into the darkness with eyes wide shut.

It’s also a new chapter for Covenant. The trio that became a quintet hasn’t sounded this focused and so on target since the legendary album ”Sequencer” 22 years ago. But there is nothing nostalgic about ”The Blinding Dark”. It steers like an unstoppable Nautilus through the black waters, straight towards the future, never looking back.

Welcome to the void.

"The Blinding Dark” will be released in several different versions: CD, vinyl and extended artwork all produced directly by the band.

“Psychonaut EP” bonus material consists of up to two hours of unique instrumental music recorded at a private, live improvisation jam session. All to be released world wide 4th of November 2016.

Covenant The Blinding Dark

1. Fulwell (intro)
2. I Close My Eyes
3. Morning Star
4. Cold Reading
5. A Rider On A White Horse
6. Interlude
7. Dies Irae
8. Sound Mirrors (Fulwell)
9. Interlude
10. If I Give My Soul
11. Summon Your Spirit

Psychonaut EP – Instrumental Bonus Album

1. The blinding light
2. Death of Ideology
3. Death of Identity (excerpt)
4. Death of Superstition
5. Death of Spirituality
6. Death of Belief

Psychonaut EP Session – Digital Extra Material

1. Death of Identity (50 minute full version)
2. Wolf Hour
3. New Dawn

Order your copy here!

GERMANY (CD, 2xCD, 3xVINYL & BOX)

http://en.dependent.de/covenant-the-blinding-dark.html

NORTH AMERICA

CD
http://www.metropolis-mailorder.com/product.php?prodnum=MET+1055

VINYL
http://www.metropolis-mailorder.com/product.php?prodnum=MET+1055V

2xCD Limited Edition
http://www.metropolis-mailorder.com/product.php?prodnum=MET+1060

SOUND MIRRORS – OUT ON AUGUST 26 2016!

”Sound Mirrors” is a 5-track CD or a 4-track 12” vinyl EP in Europe and a digital download only in North America. Remixes by Faderhead, Daniel Myer and Iszoloscope (CD and download only).

Here’s a teaser snippet from Dependent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmKT20X8zAc

Get it here:

Dependent Records
http://en.dependent.de/covenant-sound-mirrors.html

Metropolis Records
http://www.metropolis-mailorder.com/digital.php…

Here are Joakim’s thoughts about the song:

“I was reading an article about this British pre-WWII project for early warning from attacks across the Channel, called Sound Mirrors. They were designed to amplify incoming sound from enemy aircraft enough to allow the defence to take them out before they could pose a serious threat. It was an elaborate and ingenious design, expensive as well, and it was rendered obsolete by the advent of radar.

My reading coincided with the refugee situation in Europe. The fact that we all knew about the reasons for it since years, without doing anything to help, made me think of this pattern. How we, humans in general, do everything in our power to try and predict future threats. That ability to anticipate possible scenarios is of course key to our survival, from an evolutionary point of view. But we also have an equally amazing ability to ignore facts that make us feel uncomfortable or frightened. We can watch terrible things unfold right in front of us and still act as if nothing is going on. And then we’re surprised and outraged when the shit hits the fan.

And that’s the usual story: when it’s someone else’s misery, happening somewhere else, we can ignore it and be generous and grand. We buy ourselves a better conscience by sending some used clothes or money, we sign some petitions online, perhaps we write something heartfelt and compassionate on Facebook and then we go on with our comfortable lives.

But when the people suffering over there come knocking on our door, asking for a bit of the safety and prosperity we enjoy, that thin veneer of compassion and generosity cracks and our selfishness, our fear, our prejudice is suddenly all too apparent. And to my mind that’s because we ignore what we actually know:

There is no we versus them. There is only us. And there is only one world.

And when we see the truth of that simple fact and really absorb it so we can start acting on it, then there will be hope for us. Then we won’t need early warning. Then we won’t have to manipulate the “others” and keep them out. But I’m not sure we are capable to take that step at all. And that makes me terribly sad.”

Joakim Montelius for Covenant