Eternal Nightmare was the continuation of Lunacy, that changed its name because there already existed a band called Lunacy in the Netherlands.
When Lunacy got renamed as Eternal Nightmare in November 1988 the band was in the midst of rehearsing for their first studio recordings. The line-up of vocalist Nico (later singer for At Large), guitarists Greg (later a.o. singer for party music act Greg-A-Man) and Danny, bassplayer Jack (later a.o. Toner Low drummer and Only Entertainment guitarist) and drummer Ed (later live drummer for US guitarist Joe Stump, and drummer for a.o. Carthago and Dissect) recorded their demo Mouth To Hell? on January 14 and 15, 1989. Not too satisfied with the result, for a few months nothing was done with the recordings.
July 1, 1989, the band got the opportunity to play a gig at Scum, Katwijk, and despite the flaws it suffered from decided to release their first demo on June 12. The Scum show was their first since June 11, 1988, and their first as Eternal Nightmare, and the demo release paved the way for two more gigs in 1989. After having done a handful of gigs throughout the Netherlands from January until June 1990 (with a.o. Vulture, Eternal Solstice, MortMain and Manticore), Eternal Nightmare recorded their second tape on July 27, 28 and 29. Total Tear Up got released on August 25, 1990, when the band played the Haringrock festival at venue Tripodia in Katwijk.
Eternal Nightmare gave their second demo massive promotion. September 18 a song got played on Vara's Vuurwerk, a metal show on Dutch national radio, and dozens of tapes were sent to mainstream and underground rock and metal magazines all over the globe. Many interviews were done with regional radio stations in the Netherlands and Belgium and underground magazines worldwide. In addition, Total Tear Up songs appeared on some compilation tapes, and musicians from Cyclone, Cryptic Slaughter, Obituary, Evil Dead and Sadus and even famed metal producer Scott Burns were handed or sent a demo.
Throughout 1991 Eternal Nightmare played gigs across the Netherlands. Most were done as single headliner, but they also played with Blind Justice and other Dutch underground bands and more well-known acts Gorefest and Asphyx. Meanwhile the Total Tear Up demo got mostly positive reviews in metal magazines from Finland to the USA and from Chile to Japan, and was distributed by underground metal promoters in Sweden, Colombia and Singapore. Up from early 1992 the tape got distribution through Turbo Records from Germany and also was available at Metamorphosis record store in Costa Rica.
The tables turned however during spring 1992. Some new songs were written, but he number of gigs had reduced dramatically. Because of changing interests drummer Ed left the band in March. Jack then moved behind the drums and during summer Miranda (later a.o. Toner low bassist) filled the resulting vacant bass position. In autumn singer Nico quit, whereupon Jack took over the vocals as well. With this four piece line-up Eternal Nightmare did their last gig on December 19, 1992, at the Madonna venue in Alphen aan den Rijn and shortly thereafter disbanded. An offer for a final more local gig on March 20, 1993, in Wassenaar was declined.
- Mouth To Hell? (tape, June 1989)
- Total Tear Up (tape, August 1990)
- DSFA Promotape 2 (song on compilation tape, DSFA Band Promotions, Netherlands, December 1990)
- Necrovorean Chants (song on compilation tape for Deicide Mag #3, Belgium, spring 1991)
- Bloodzit Tapes (song on compilation tape, Bloodzit Tapes, Canada, spring/summer 1991)