[5] Covenant signed with Nuclear Blast, a major German label dedicated to the hard rock scene, in 1998 and recruited four other members to form an actual band.
These people were Astennu (of Dimmu Borgir, Carpe Tenebrum), Sverd (of Arcturus), Sarah Jezebel Deva (of Cradle of Filth and others), and Hellhammer (of Mayhem and others).
[6] After the release of Nexus Polaris, Sverd, Astennu, and Sarah were fired for what Nagash has said to be "various reasons" in several interviews.
So they added "The" and also replaced the "C" with a "K" to avoid any future confusions, leading to their permanent name "The Kovenant".
Soon the band changed their individual stage names to suit their new direction: Nagash became "Lex Icon", Blackheart became "Psy Coma", and Hellhammer became "Von Blomberg".
The new album also afforded them another Norwegian Grammy and they gained a new member, Angel, while touring the USA.
The following announcement has once been seen at Lex's blog:The Kovenant fans will have to wait a few more months for us to begin recording Aria Galactica.
He also denied any relations between Aria Galactica and the DVD, which would be "completely megalomaniac project of making a documentary of [their] entire band history".
In October 2009, The Kovenant were confirmed to be performing their Nexus Polaris album with the original members at the Inferno Festival in Norway, spring of 2010.
On 29 October 2011, Nagash did a one-time only performance of their debut album at the Aurora Infernalis III festival in Arnhem, Netherlands.
On 11 April 2024, The Kovenant posted an poster on their Facebook page saying they will be performing Nexus Polaris live in its entirety, starting in Eindhoven, The Netherlands on 13 and 14 of December.
Nexus set plus songs from In Times Before The Light and Animatronic" teasing more shows coming up in the future.