Artist: Exorcist
Album: Nightmare Theater
Year: 1986
Genre: Thrash Metal
Exorcist is a band I stumbled upon through what I will fondly refer to as “experimental purchasing.” During the period from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, I was essentially purchasing everything under the sun that bore even a slight connection to the genres I loved. For example, I would buy an unknown band’s record if I saw another band wearing their t-shirt. Or I would buy a band just because of the label they were associated with, or how they wrote their name, or if they had an ad that I saw, or if they looked cool, and on and on and on. Sounds crazy in 2025, right? These seemingly ridiculous qualifiers played such a huge part of what we had back then when it came to underground music. Compilations were useful, but not every band ended up on one. Reviews in zines definitely helped, but they couldn’t cover everything. There was tape trading, which, at least for me, got old after a couple years. The main point is that there weren’t any real ways to hear a band before your purchase. Luckily there were a few incredible independent record stores in my area that carried bands that were very much off the beaten path. Your hard-earned money was constantly at risk, but it was also fun and exciting! The phenomenally gory, Savini-esque cover art was the driving force behind me picking up Exorcist’s Nightmare Theater and I’ve never regretted it for a second. Horror-drenched thrash metal that owes a lot to the influence of Venom, Exciter and Kill ‘Em All era Metallica. Lyrically, everything on this record plays out like Saturday afternoon, low budget, silver screen horror movie; witches, sacrifices, the devil, possessions, priests, flames, motorcycles all get into the act while being delivered in a faux death metal style. The legend and lore about Exorcist being a real “band” was part of the fun, but now the truth is now well documented. Real, or fake, or whatever they were, the world ended up with an album of barbaric old school metal that will put a smile on any thrasher’s face.
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