The Moroccan band The Nightmare, formerly known as In the Nightmare,was founded in Casablanca, Morocco, in late 1997 as an underground metal act. In the beginning, the band played covers from other heavy, black and death metal artists to help introduce the genre of metal to a Moroccan audience and to contribute to the gradual establishement of a promising scene in Morocco.
In the years that followed, The Nightmare developed materials of its own and performed a lot of shows that helped to build a significant fan base. However, the possibility of recording an album was limited due to the lack of funds and the quasi inexistence of professional recording studios for this trend of music.
In 2001 the band won first prize at the Boulevard des Jeunes Musiciens fesrtival in Casablanca,and explored new horizons by playing in the Gnawa festival in Essaouira. This experience helped the band to fuse metal influences and the indigenous rhythms of Moroccan traditional music that eventually led to the recording of a 3-track demo in 2001 at the FTG studio entitled Storm of Anger, which included the song Terminal Spirit Desease by At the Gates.
The band took a breather until 2004 when The Nightmare welcomed Hatim Elkadi as their new bass player after the departure of Bertal Nabil. In 2005, the band released a new EP called Prophecies of chaos and is now working on new materials.
