🛡️ Package Protection Plan (Recommended)
Add low-cost package protection at checkout to protect your entire order from delivery damage or loss.
✔ Covers: Damage in transit • lost or stolen package • full order value
âś– Does not cover: Carrier delays or missed delivery windows
Important: Without package protection, damage claims are denied and no replacements or refunds are provided.
⚠️ Pre-Order Terms
Pre-orders ship on or before the posted release date, barring manufacturing delays.
📦 This is a pre-order that ships on or before the release date of 11/2026.
You must place a separate order for all pre-orders if you do not want your in-stock items held up.
All items ordered together will ship together when the last item arrives.
Pre-orders may not be split, cancelled, refunded, credited, swapped, or altered in any way once placed.
All pre-orders are final—no exceptions, including manufacturing delays.
By purchasing from this store, you agree to these terms and conditions.
⚠️ 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: BPV1721
UPC: 732131698985
Format: Deluxe 2LP Vinyl / Gatefold Jacket
Vinyl Color: Blood Smoke Vinyl
Pressing: Limited to 300 Copies
Poster: 12" x 18" Poster Included
Tracks: 14 / Approximately 67 Minutes
Original Release: 1997 – Metal Blade Records
Release Date: November 2026
🔥 Key Collector Details
- Limited to only 300 copies worldwide
- Deluxe 2LP Blood Smoke Vinyl edition
- Full-color gatefold jacket
- Includes a 12" x 18" poster
- Mastered specifically for vinyl
- Originally released by Metal Blade Records in 1997
- Officially licensed from Metal Blade Records
- Brand-new 2026 retrospective liner notes from BOTH Aphazel and Kaiaphas
- Aphazel takes fans back inside the Cue Studio sessions, cemetery photo shoots, original mix/master, and the album's remarkable legacy
- Kaiaphas explores the vampire influences, collaborative writing process, musical experimentation, and the album's eventual cult status
- Gatefold presentation features lyrics, credits, band photography, and both new retrospectives
- 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
- 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 and adventurous albums in the Norwegian band's catalog. Ancient's third full-length pushed the band beyond its earlier black metal attack into an increasingly melodic, gothic, atmospheric, and experimental direction.
The classic lineup features Aphazel on guitars, bass, and keyboards; Kaiaphas on male vocals, drums, and percussion; Jesus Christ! on guitars, bass, keyboards, cello, and piano; and Erichte on female vocals. Together they created an album that could move from extreme metal aggression into atmospheric keyboards, clean and female vocals, cello, piano, slower passages, and sprawling gothic compositions without losing Ancient's black metal foundation.
For this deluxe Brutal Planet Records edition, fans get much more than a return to vinyl. Both Aphazel and Kaiaphas have contributed brand-new 2026 retrospective liner notes, giving two members of the classic lineup the opportunity to tell the story of Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends nearly three decades after its original release.
Aphazel's retrospective takes fans behind the scenes of the 1997 recording sessions at Cue Recording Studios in Virginia. He remembers the unusual atmosphere surrounding the sessions and cemetery photo shoots, the pressure of completing the album, and the band's complicated feelings about the original mix and master. Decades later, he reflects on the unexpected and gratifying reality that Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends has endured and become such a highly regarded release among many Ancient fans.
Kaiaphas's new retrospective fills in another part of the story. He recalls the fascination with vampire lore and classic horror imagery that helped inspire the album and explains how Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends became a far more collaborative band effort than The Cainian Chronicle. Much of the material was developed together during rehearsals, with the members contributing ideas that pushed Ancient into increasingly adventurous musical territory.
Kaiaphas also reflects on the record's journey from an experimental and divisive album into something of a cult favorite. Over the years, listeners came to embrace precisely the qualities that made Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends so unusual: its gothic atmosphere, musical variety, unconventional arrangements, and complete willingness to take chances.
Those qualities are everywhere across the album's 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” explore different corners of Ancient's dark musical world before the record concludes with a cover of the Mercyful Fate classic “Black Funeral.”
Now Brutal Planet Records presents the complete 67-minute album as a deluxe 2LP gatefold edition, mastered specifically for vinyl and pressed on striking Blood Smoke Vinyl.
The gatefold presentation gives the artwork room to breathe and includes the album lyrics, credits, archival band photography, and the new retrospectives from both Aphazel and Kaiaphas. A 12" x 18" poster is also included, making this a true collector-focused presentation rather than simply another vinyl repress.
Only 300 copies are being pressed on Blood Smoke Vinyl. Two new firsthand retrospectives, a deluxe gatefold, poster, and one of Ancient's most daring Metal Blade-era albums—this is the definitive Brutal Planet Records vinyl edition of Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends.
🎵 Track Listing
SIDE A
1. Malkavian Twilight
2. A Mad Blood Scenario
3. The Draining
4. Um Sonho Psycodelico
SIDE B
5. Sleeping Princess Of The Arges
6. Her Northern Majesty
7. Blackeyes
SIDE C
8. The Emerald Tablet
9. Willothewisp
10. Neptune
SIDE D
11. 5
12. Hecate, My Love And Lust
13. Vampirize Natasha
14. 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
You might also like
