EXORCIST- Nightmare Theatre LP High Roller 2016

I won’t deny this album belongs to the first twenty of my all time top albums. And thus, after I had to sell my Cobra Records copy, due to various life-related reasons, I did, I fact, miss that record a lot. Luckily, High Roller re-issued this album this year as well as added some bonus material too. But before I start talking about Nightmare Theater I want to blather some more about EXORCIST a little, which, as a matter of fact, was a project band, created under pressure of a certain music label. Interesting, right? Well, apparently, no one was aware of that fact in the mid-80s. And the music, apparently, turned out to be really of immortal sort, indeed. In my view, it was because of the really talented musicians who started this one-album-only band. Those guys were people from the contemporary VIRGIN STEEL line-up: Damien Rath – Voc., Jamie Locke - Bass and Marc Dorian – Git. Geoff Fontaine was the drummer (JACK STARR`S back then). The band was formed in New York in 1985 and split up a year later. But they recorded an album which, still, is able to give you goosebumps. Ok, if it was possible for a music label to create a band like EXORCIST or Canadian PILEDRIVER, well, those who were responsible for that should be praised, as those two project bands have become top metal bands, for sure. I can still remember when I got this stuff for the first time, released by Roadrunner Records in 1985. I got it from a Bulgarian guy named Ernest who used to smuggle pre-ordered LPs from the West. He brought us VECTOM - Speed Metal Revolution, DESTRUCTION-Eternal Devastation, POSSESSED - Beyond the Gates, DESTRACTOR – Maximum Destruction and EXORCIST. EXORCIST amazed me, really. I was looking for some info about them, but to no avail. Lack of information, pictures etc. made this band even more attractive and mysterious. It worked good like it did with early BATHORY, the same way, no joke. You ought to have listened to some rumours about the band back then, hey. It is beyond me how their music affected those who spread those rumours, really. The music itself is amazing and devilish speed/thrash. This material is just suffused with darkness and therefore this music was really explosive back then, attracting 100% attention from metal fans. All in all, this album seemed a perfect one in those days, you know, its cover art (horror themes; extremely back then popular), songs and the overall execution of the material. This is a perfect album. It’s been 30 years since this material`s been released and it still fucking rules. What’s even more interesting, many albums of VIRGIN STEEL didn’t stand the test of time but Nightmare Theater did. Plenty of great music ideas and the way it was all performed! Damn, this stuff rules! What we have here are fast guitar parts, a deep sound of drums and the bass which fits very well the rest. And this unique, demonic vocal which still makes me shiver; every time I hear it. A good idea was to put intros before tracks – the atmosphere gets really dark! Let’s add some lyrics suffused with blood, violence, witches, hell and evil. It all, when combined with a solid musical framework appears to be very original. Back then, there was only one band which was similar, namely PILEDRIVER from Canada (they recorded a very good Metal Inquisition and slightly worse Stay Ugly). Yeah, when I listen to Nighttime Theater my eyes fill with tears. It is so good that I want more of it. Thanks goes to Steffen from High Roller for re-releasing this piece of art (remastered by Patrick W. Engel). This issue contains a bonus track which wasn’t included in the first edition (Spin your Head around Backwards). Patrick was able to get some good things from this albums, I mean the elements which weren’t hearable in the first edition. This album comes with a booklet, lyrics and a huge cover art poster. Sadly, this issue doesn’t have any old pictures been the one included in the old Brazilian edition from 1988. Anyway, this album is worth having. If you didn’t know this band before, get this stuff!

Leszek Wojnicz-Sianożęcki