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Sunday Old School: Ancient

Hey, what's this... I'm not Diamond Oz! Sorry folks, he's out this week, so I'm here to take over Sunday Old School. Today we're headed back in time all the way to the early '90s and mythical Norway, birthplace of second wave black metal and much diabolical full moon mysticism.

During that hallowed time in metallic history would emerge a black metal group called Ancient, which over the years mixed a lot of melody into the BM sound, utilizing memorable atmospheric interlude tracks and a gothic, vampiric vibe.

That would all arrive a good deal later though, as Ancient's beginnings are more rooted in the classic, raw black metal that would become so well known among the giant names like Emperor, Immortal, Mayhem, Burzum, and so on.

Beginning with just band founder Apahzel and vocalist Grimm, the first full-length Ancient release was “Svartalvheim,” which has everything you could want from a '94 black metal metal album, complete with breathing fire in a Norwegian forest!

Much like with the more well known Cradle Of Filth, there is a small but vocal subsection of the fan-base who feels this earliest, more kvlt release (along with the subsequent “Trolltaar” EP) is really the only era of the band worth hearing. Whether you agree with that assessment or not, “Svartalvheim” is easily a classic old school black metal opus, including the fuzzy production and frozen and gloomy atmosphere. If early '90s Norwegian BM is your thing, this is a forgotten classic worth checking out.

Ancient was essentially a different band from its inception through the “Trolltaar” EP, at which point Aphazel relocated from Norway to the United States and brought on entirely new members. For a lot of fans, follow-up album “The Cainian Chronicle” from '96 is really where Ancient truly begins.

The entire tone and basic framework shifts as new vocalist Kaiphas was recruited. “The Cainian Chronicle” is also notable for the inclusion of Kimberly Goss, who would later marry (and divorce) Alexi Laiho and was involved with both Therion and Sinergy.

Half the album is based around the far past of the World Of Darkness setting, covering the adventures of vampire Cain, while the second half is pure pagan metal. The end result was perfect for both the goth LARPing crowd and the black metal kids who wanted to scare the shit of their church-going classmates (i.e. me in the 8th grade). Was it perhaps cheesy and over the top? Oh fuck yes it was, but it was also made of certified, Grade-A awesome, and I'll fight to the death anyone who says otherwise.

Sadly, the next two albums didn't go over as well with fans. “Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends” currently sits at a 39% average rating at Metal Archives, due to both bad production and taking that gothic and cheesy atmosphere much too far. While a flop, the album did see the recruitment of long-time member Jesus Christ! (yes, there's an exclamation point at the end of his name).

Despite being band leader since its inception, Aphazel didn't actually take over vocals until “The Halls Of Eternity,” which was also the point where Deadly Kristin was brought on, who would handle the female vocals here and on the next album.

“The Halls Of Eternity” netted middling to negative reviews, with the band treading water while trying out the new vocal styles, and the end result unfortunately wasn't particularly memorable (except for some more abysmal cheese - particularly on the song “I, Madman”).

Ancient finally came out of the downward spiral with 2001's “Proxima Centauri.” The theatrics remained, but were more serious and slightly more restrained, and the sound had finally shifted towards a darker and more brutal tone. There's some classic material on this album that saw the addition of new members Dhilorz on bass and Grom (form Hortus Animae) on drums and backing vocals.

Another quasi-concept album, the title track was based around the horrors that might be waiting for us out in space and used lines from the move Event Horizon, while the remaining tracks featured a smattering of random fantasy/horror mayhem.

Three years later saw what would essentially be the end of Ancient with final full-length studio album “Night Visit,” as things were starting to fall apart with the band. With the departure of Deadly Kristin, the main lineup revolved around Aphazel, Dhilorz, Grom, and Jesus Christ!

The album continued to mesh together the gothic vampiric nature of earlier works with the more legitimate blackened metal of the last album, but sadly it wasn't enough to save Ancient from falling off the radar. It wouldn't be long before the group stopped performing live and Ancient essentially faded away quietly for years.

There wasn't much happening on the Ancient camp until 2011, when Aphazel announced he was living in Greece, shortened his stage name to just Zel... and apparently converted to Christianity. That last bit was more than a little bit of a shock, considering the strongly pagan and anti-Christian themes of many previous albums. After that bombshell, all went quiet on the Ancient front again.

That changed as hope sprung anew for fans at the end of 2013, when news broke that Ancient was finally back in action and working on a new album called “Back To The Land Of The Dead” (check out the cover art below). Months passed and finally a release date of May 2015 was announced... which came and went.

In June a brief statement came out indicating there were delays on the production side preventing the album's full release, which was followed by new delay statements every few months. A February 2016 release date was set... which obviously came and went with no new album for a hungry fan base.

Ancient did play Blastfest 2016's all-Norwegian lineup edition (see footage below) and has a few other upcoming festivals booked, so the band apparently has been rehearsing and actually working together. Other than that, the status and future of Ancient remains entirely up in the air.

There's been no information from the band since February, with all online presence just going completely silent. Is this long-awaited album actually coming, or has Ancient finally entered the land of the dead for good?