Back in mid-to-late 1985, my group of 30 young and crazed metal head friends were in full swing of the underground Metal movement. Gone were the praises of any act that could get on radio or MTV, replaced with the worship of the heavier lesser-known acts at that time like Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, King Diamond, and Venom. To us, if it had a brutal or offensive front cover with music that matched, we were in. Soon the flood gates opened and numerous new bands came flowing through like Bathory, Possessed, and Exodus, and with each album the genre broaden & broadened, getting darker and more intense. Then one day through all this came an album that has stuck with me more than possibly all the others that came before it, with it's demonic sound and storytelling that today over thirty years later I scream it's praises. That album would be by an unknown "band" (read on) called Exorcist, and that album was called Nightmare Theatre. But strangely just what and how that album came to be might be more interesting (might, I say might) than the album itself....
Y'see back in the early to mid-80's was a lead singer/songwriter in New York by the name David Defeis. He was the leader of a small independent power metal band called Virgin Steele. Steele never grew to the heights of the bands I mentioned above, but consistently put out albums of great Power Metal in the vein of early Queensryche & Iron Maiden. However, after "borrowing" money from his manager to get the quality of the albums he and his band wanted to have, this manager started wanting some of that money back. Wanting to have his client "sing with the angels" rather than "sleep with the fishes", he proposed an idea, one that Defeis couldn't refuse: Write me some albums, find some musicians, record it quickly, and make me three albums I can sell on top of your stuff, all without knowing it's really you.
While artists pretending to be other artists weren't new (see The Monkees first two albums line-up of "real" musicians & songwriters), it was new to the world of metal. But Defeis, stuck in a rock-and-a-hard place, accepted the deal to pay off the debt. Joined by fellow Virgin Steele guitarist Edward Pursino, they set out to record three Metal albums in one month. That's right, one month. Each trying to be distinct, different, and definitely not of the Virgin Steele mode, they quickly went into the studio to create this music all under the pressure to get certain people off their backs.
The first record was by an already established band called Piledriver. Led by vocalist Gord Kirchin, Piledriver was in sort of a "Mentors" like style, macho men with no regard towards women's rights. The album "Stay Ugly" was written by Defeis and Pursino after hearing the first one called "Metal Inquisition" and trying to pick up where that album left off. Written and recorded in less than a week, Stay Ugly was eventually a moderate success, a good start to this charade, but the best was yet to come.
The second album was supposed to be a brand new project. This was supposed to be a black metal album in the vein of Venom & newcomers Bathory. Defeis was to write the material, hire musicians to join Pursino, and oversee & produce the project. Defeis, rasied on a story-telling Opera-like background decided that this album would have a concept: the Salem Witch Trials of the 1600's and the demonic possession that went along with it. However, when it came time to record his satanic opus, both the bass player and hired lead singer dropped out immediately due to their own Christian beliefs. Pressured by time, Defeis realized that at this point the only man left for the vocal job was himself. So he got behind the mic and quickly changed his natural three octave plus vocals into the voice from Hell. And in less than a week, another album was recorded, and this was Exorcist.
Strangely, what really gets me about this album is just how good it is in what little time it was created. Over the top evil vocals that growl in pain, guitar solos that blaze in fire, and even bass and drum parts that sound like a band that's been together playing this material for years, not the presence of Virgin Steele. In fact, it had something most albums of the era couldn't say, it was actually frightening, like a Hammer horror movie of the 70's. To anyone who has never heard it, imagine if say Mercyful Fate were "forced" to make an album like Venom. Or Maiden doing their best Bathory. In fact, a photo shoot was done for the "fake" band with four guys that were not on the album! All this, under the gun of making sure no one could recognize that it was really those guys from Steele. And trust me, they pulled it off. If this secret never came out, even I wouldn't have believed it was the same guys. Truly one of the strangest stories of 80's underground Metal, they created a "band" that after the project was done, hit the stores, sold well, and quickly disappeared with no one ever knowing that the band never really existed.
Sadly, and I do mean sadly, like many of the labels of that era, Cobra Records folded before the decade ended. Because of that, Nightmare Theatre never got a CD release (outside of a few bootlegs mastered from the vinyl). Over thirty-years passed, and just recently Defeis has come out to admit he was the one behind Exorcist. Lucky for all of us, when he handed over the masters to these three albums back in the 80's, he handed them mixed copies, keeping the tracked master to himself for one day maybe, maybe he'd release it again. Happily, in 2016 he decided it was the right time.
This two CD set, complete with slipcover, new liner-notes/photos, and what I'd never thought possible: lyrics, features not one, or two, but three different versions of the album, each slightly different than the rest. The first version is the original album I grew up with, remastered to today's standards, the second, a higher mix with a few slight additions, and a third where certain parts are extended, re-recorded, and additional eerie effects are added. As a whole it's a great presentation. Also are new "unearthed" Exorcist tracks, but in reality they are new tracks by Defeis recorded in the Exorcist vibe that finally let him be his Steele vocals self along with his "Damian Rath" dark half (for which he was credited as on the original album). These new tracks are interesting, including two re-records of "Death By Bewitchment" and "Queen Of The Dead", where he seems to be dueting with both halves of himself! Overall, this album, both the original and the new, is an 80's thrash/black metal masterpiece. I know I say this a lot, but for an album that I first heard in my mid-teens to affect me so much as this, I truly mean it. With it's unique concept & storytelling (almost two years before King Diamond's Abigail), terror-like interludes, and blistering Metal tracks that will stick in your head forever, Nightmare Theatre is one of my top twenty-five albums ever, yup ever.
Finally, I'd like to add that if Mr. Defeis ever reads this, I'd like to thank him. I know Virgin Steele is your baby, your bread & butter, but out of all your work you've done, nothing has stuck with me as Nightmare Theatre has. A truly original piece of concept-album music for an era of Metal that will never die. It still sounds as fresh and downright scary as it did in 1986. Your personal remaster was well done. Hopefully with this, a new generation of fans will discover it, making you realize that even great moments can come out of duress. As you as the small child at the ending of the album says "All thanks to the Exorcist, God Bless You." Thanks man....but did you have to make me wait thirty years????? (Just kidding).
Oh, and what about the "third" album I was talking about? That final project was called "Original Sin" and was supposed to be an all-girl band. A girl band performed & written by three guys and David's own sister on lead vocals! Sounding like a musical continuation of Nightmare, but with a gothic female lead, it in itself is it's own story. Thanks for reading, and thanks to the Exorcist!
