UMUR
"I Am the Night" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, Texas based heavy metal act Pantera. The album was released on the band´s own label Metal Magic in August 1985. Like the case were on the two preceding albums Jerry Abbott (the father of guitarist Diamond Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul acts as producer. It´s the last album to feature lead vocalist Terrence Lee Glaze as he would be replaced by Phil Anselmo before the recording sessions for "Power Metal (1988)". "I Am the Night" turned out to be a minor commercial success for Pantera as it sold around 25.000 copies.
Stylistically the band continues to play melodic heavy metal, like they also did on the two predecessors, yet some tracks hint at the harder edged direction the band would soon follow. Especially the title track, which is almost in speed metal territory, and "Down Below". The band ended up re-recording the latter for "Power Metal (1988)". However the harder edged nature of those tracks are still not the dominant sound on "I Am the Night".
Pantera are by now pretty well playing and definitely a tighter unit than they were just a couple of years ago on the debut album. Lead vocalist Terrence Lee Glaze and guitarist Diamond Darrell stand out the most, but the rythm section are really tight too. The sound production on "I Am the Night" is unfortunately a step down from the sound production on "Projects in the Jungle (1984)". It lacks power and especially the drums are pretty thin sounding. Upon conclusion "I Am the Night" isn´t that far removed from "Projects in the Jungle (1984)" in style or quality. I had hoped the band would have developed more between the two releases, but a 3 star (60%) rating is still deserved.
