Animatronic (album)

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The successful release of Nexus Polaris made Covenant a huge name in Europe and Norway because of the success of the album and the Norwegian Grammy. But the band was in a tight spot now. Sarah was too much trouble for the band and Nagash refused to compromise with her any longer and fired her. Sverd had musical and personal problems within the band, and Astennu had musical obligations with Dimmu Borgir. Only Hellhammer remained.

Then a law suit came from Swedish electronic music band, Covenant (of the same name). They had been around since the late 1980s and decided to sue Covenant since they held the original name before them. Not deciding to change their name that drastically, the band switched it from 'Covenant' to 'The Kovenant'.

After that the band decided to go ahead and make another album. Desiring to move on and their fascination with science fiction, Nagash and Blackheart decided to move away from the black metal scene and developed into "progressive space metal". Using more electronics and synths and hiring an expert female singer from the German House of Opera, The Kovenant recorded and released Animatronic in 1999; recording took three months.

Fans were shocked at the drastic change and hardcore black metal fans denounced their change while some remained and new fans were attracted. Either way the band was nominated for another Norwegian Grammy. They attended again and won, beating Dimmu Borgir and Black Debbath.

With this album they toured both Europe and the USA. Soon the band members changed their names (Nagash becoming Lex Icon, Blackheart becoming Psy Coma, Hellhammer becoming Von Blomberg) because of the new direction the band was taking.