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📦 This is a pre-order that ships on or before the release date of 11/2026.
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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 / Approximately 67 Minutes
Original Release: 1997 – Metal Blade Records
Series: Metal Icon Series
Release Date: November 2026
🔥 Key Collector Details
- Limited to only 300 copies
- Originally released by Metal Blade Records in 1997
- Officially licensed from Metal Blade Records
- Part of the Brutal Planet Records Metal Icon Series
- Remastered by Rob Colwell
- Deluxe 16-page booklet packed with lyrics, credits, artwork, and archival photography
- Features an extensive center-spread photo collage filled with vintage Ancient images
- Brand-new 2026 retrospective liner notes from BOTH Aphazel and Kaiaphas
- Aphazel looks back on the Cue Studio sessions, cemetery photo shoots, the rushed original mix/master, and the album's unexpected enduring reputation
- Kaiaphas explores the album's vampire influences, collaborative songwriting, experimentation, and eventual cult status
- 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
- 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 controversial albums in the Norwegian band's catalog. The band's third full-length pushed beyond the boundaries of its earlier black metal sound into a darker and increasingly theatrical world of 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. That expanded musical palette allowed Ancient to move between aggressive extreme metal, atmospheric keyboards, male/female vocal interplay, piano, cello, and haunting melodic passages.
Nearly three decades later, this new Brutal Planet Records edition gives fans something especially valuable: brand-new retrospective liner notes from both Aphazel and Kaiaphas, offering two firsthand perspectives on the making and legacy of Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends.
Aphazel takes readers back to the 1997 sessions at Cue Recording Studios in Virginia. His memories include the unusual atmosphere surrounding the sessions and cemetery photo shoots, the pressure surrounding the original mixing and mastering, and the band's disappointment with aspects of the finished sound. Looking back decades later, he reflects on how remarkable it is that an album the band once viewed with complicated feelings has endured and become so highly regarded by many Ancient fans.
Kaiaphas approaches the story from another angle. He recalls the fascination with vampire lore and imagery that helped shape the record, while explaining that Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends was far more of a collaborative band effort than its predecessor, The Cainian Chronicle. Songs were developed together during rehearsals, ideas came from throughout the lineup, and Ancient deliberately pushed into new musical territory.
Kaiaphas also looks back on the album's unusual journey after its release. What began as a divisive and experimental step for Ancient gradually developed a devoted following, with listeners embracing its gothic atmosphere, variety, unconventional arrangements, and willingness to push the boundaries of the band's established sound.
That adventurous spirit runs through all 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” move through wildly different corners of Ancient's dark musical world before the album concludes with a cover of the Mercyful Fate classic “Black Funeral.”
For this Brutal Planet Records Metal Icon Series edition, Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends has been remastered by Rob Colwell and packaged in a jewel case with an extensive 16-page booklet designed by Scott Waters of NoLifeTilMetal.
The booklet is loaded with the complete lyrics and credits, archival band photography, vintage images presented throughout the layout, a massive center-spread photo collage, and—most importantly—the new 2026 reflections from both Aphazel and Kaiaphas. These aren't generic liner notes: they are two members of the classic lineup telling the story of the album from their own perspectives nearly 30 years later.
Limited to only 300 copies, this is a true archival CD edition of one of Ancient's most fascinating Metal Blade-era releases.
🎵 Track Listing
1. Malkavian Twilight
2. A Mad Blood Scenario
3. The Draining
4. Um Sonho Psycodelico
5. Sleeping Princess Of The Arges
6. Her Northern Majesty
7. Blackeyes
8. The Emerald Tablet
9. Willothewisp
10. Neptune
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
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