Covenant (sw)
The Blinding Dark (& Book)
Format: 2CD hardcover book (48 pages, 18x18 cm) incl. "Psychonaut EP" with 6 bonus tracks and liner notes; The Blinding Dark" is definitely not Covenant's most easily accessible album. It does not contain as many hits as classics like "Northern Light" or "United States of Mind", and it is surely less pleasant than Covenant's most striking earworms "Dead Stars" and "Happy Man". Still, "The Blinding Dark" is exciting not only because of its telling title, but also since it shows a remarkable development in style, something that Covenant decidedly wanted with this record - and not least thanks to the subject matter they address. Of course, dancefloors will still shake during "Sound Mirrors", "Immortal" or "I close My Eyes", yet the albums focuses rather sup- pressed tracks of subtle darkness such as the Kraftwerk- and Jarr-inspired "Dies Irae" and the Lee Hazelwood(!) cover "Rider on a wild Horse", a 1977 country anthem that has been turned into a sombre, sluggish electro requiem with heavy acoustic drums. Eventually "The Blinding Dark" offers a lot to discover, not least probably because long-standing Covenant member Joakim Montelius has once again taken more responsibility in the studio than on their previous works and due to the fact that Daniel Myer (haujobb, Architect) has returned as a permanent fixture in the group's live line-up. Thus, "The Blinding Dark" may hark back to one of Covenant's less "hit-heavy" records that turned out to have more depth and longevity just because of its raw character. It is their second full-length "Sequencer" that could have been the blueprint for the mood on "The Blinding Dark" with slower numbers such as "Tabula Rasa" or "Flux". And there could be worse references, right?