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⚠️ Content Note
Ancient explores intentionally dark, provocative, and occult-themed imagery and lyrics consistent with the traditions of extreme black metal. This release is presented for its musical, historical, and collector significance. Listeners who are sensitive to such themes should purchase accordingly.
đź’ż Release Details
Artist: Ancient
Title: Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends
Label: Brutal Planet Records
Catalog Number: BPCD1720
UPC: 732131699081
Format: CD – Jewel Case
Pressing: Limited to 300 Copies
Booklet: Deluxe 16-Page Booklet
Tracks: 14 Tracks / Approximately 67 Minutes
Original Release: 1997 – Metal Blade Records
Release Date: November 2026
🔥 Key Collector Details
- Limited to only 300 copies
- Originally released by Metal Blade Records in 1997
- Part of the Brutal Planet Records Metal Icon Series
- Remastered by Rob Colwell
- Massive 16-page booklet loaded with lyrics, credits, artwork, and archival band photography
- Features a huge two-page center-spread photo collage filled with vintage Ancient images
- Includes brand-new 2026 liner notes by Kaiaphas reflecting on the creation and legacy of the album
- Features Aphazel, Kaiaphas, Jesus Christ!, and Erichte
- Produced by Aphazel
- Originally recorded, mixed, and mastered at Cue Recording Studios in Falls Church, Virginia in September 1997
- Engineered by Doug Johnston
- Layout and design by Scott Waters / NoLifeTilMetal
- A cult Ancient release blending black metal with gothic atmosphere, melodic passages, female vocals, keyboards, cello, piano, and experimental elements
- Includes Ancient's cover of the Mercyful Fate classic “Black Funeral”
- For Fans Of: Emperor, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Covenant, Mercyful Fate, and atmospheric/melodic black metal
🩸 Ancient – Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends
Originally released by Metal Blade Records in 1997, Ancient's Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends remains one of the most distinctive, adventurous, and unconventional albums in the Norwegian band's catalog. Their third full-length found Ancient pushing beyond the boundaries of their earlier black-metal sound into a darker, more theatrical world filled with gothic atmosphere, melody, experimentation, and vampiric imagery.
The album features Aphazel on guitars, bass, and keyboards; Kaiaphas on male vocals, drums, and percussion; multi-instrumentalist Jesus Christ! on guitars, bass, keyboards, cello, and piano; and Erichte on female vocals. The expanded lineup gave Ancient a remarkably broad musical palette, moving from aggressive extreme metal into haunting keyboards, atmospheric passages, male/female vocal interplay, piano, cello, and dramatic gothic textures.
In exclusive new liner notes written for this 2026 reissue, Kaiaphas takes listeners directly back to the creation of Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends. He recalls Ancient deliberately pushing further into ideas that had begun developing on The Cainian Chronicle, while his own fascination with vampire lore, classic Hammer horror films, and Bram Stoker's Dracula helped shape the atmosphere surrounding the album.
Kaiaphas also remembers Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends as much more of a true group effort, with the musicians developing most of the songs together during rehearsals and everyone contributing ideas to shape the finished record. Looking back nearly three decades later, he describes it as an album whose fans embraced its gothic atmosphere, musical variety, experimental elements, and willingness to push boundaries.
That adventurous spirit can be heard throughout the album's sprawling 14 tracks. “A Mad Blood Scenario,” “The Draining,” “Sleeping Princess of the Arges,” “Her Northern Majesty,” “Blackeyes,” “The Emerald Tablet,” “Willothewisp,” “Hecate, My Love and Lust,” and “Vampirize Natasha” take Ancient through wildly different corners of its dark and atmospheric musical world before the album concludes with a cover of the Mercyful Fate classic “Black Funeral.”
Now Brutal Planet Records brings this cult Metal Blade release back to CD as part of the Metal Icon Series. The album has been remastered by Rob Colwell and is presented in a jewel case with an extensive 16-page booklet designed by Scott Waters of NoLifeTilMetal.
And this isn't a bare-bones reissue. The booklet is packed with the original lyrics and credits, extensive archival photography, newly presented vintage band photos, a massive center-spread photo collage, and the brand-new 2026 reflections from Kaiaphas. It's a package designed to give longtime fans substantially more than simply another copy of the album.
Limited to just 300 copies, this Brutal Planet Records edition gives Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends the expanded CD presentation this cult Ancient album deserves.
🎵 Track Listing
- Malkavian Twilight
- A Mad Blood Scenario
- The Draining
- Um Sonho Psycodelico
- Sleeping Princess of the Arges
- Her Northern Majesty
- Blackeyes
- The Emerald Tablet
- Willothewisp
- Neptune
- 5
- Hecate, My Love and Lust
- Vampirize Natasha
- Black Funeral (Mercyful Fate cover)
🎶 Song Titles
Malkavian Twilight / A Mad Blood Scenario / The Draining / Um Sonho Psycodelico / Sleeping Princess of the Arges / Her Northern Majesty / Blackeyes / The Emerald Tablet / Willothewisp / Neptune / 5 / Hecate, My Love and Lust / Vampirize Natasha / Black Funeral
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