I Am the Night (album)

I Am the Night
Studio album by Pantera
Released	August 16, 1985 (1985-08-16) [1]
Recorded	November 1985 (1985-11)
Studio	Pantego Sound (Pantego, Texas) [2]
Genre	Glam metal [3] heavy metal [4]
Length	37:51
Label	Metal Magic
Producer	Jerry Abbott Pantera
Pantera chronology
Projects in the Jungle (1984) I Am the Night (1985) Power Metal (1988)
Singles from I Am the Night
"Hot 'N' Heavy" Released: July 12, 1985 (1985-07-12)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	7/10 [6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[7]
Rock Hard	8.5/10 [8]

I Am the Night is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on August 16, 1985, through Metal Magic Records. ^{[1] [9]}

It was made available only on vinyl and cassette, with any subsequent CD releases being bootlegs transferred from the vinyl or tape originals.

It was the last Pantera album to feature lead singer Terry Glaze. The track "Hot and Heavy" was released as a single and promoted with the band's second music video.

The album sold 25,000+ copies, which was considered high for an independent release. ^[10]

Metal Hammer included the album cover on their list of "50 most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers ever". ^[11]

Artwork

Simon Young of Metal Hammer gave his assessment on the figure present on the album's cover artwork: "We've been up late and that is definitely not 'the night', no matter how many Black Tooth Grins were imbibed during the ideas meeting for this... whatever this is." ^[11]

Reception and legacy

I Am the Night is generally not held at the same level of esteem as some of Pantera's later releases. Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic gave the album two and a half stars out of five, and wrote:

"As with all of Pantera's 'forgotten' albums, it is invariably Darrell's playing that makes these growing pains more tolerable, and also helps to make sense of how they became one of the only heavy metal bands in history to grow more commercially successful by becoming more extreme." ^[5]

Track listing

All credits adapted from the original LP. ^[2]

All tracks are written by Pantera.

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Hot and Heavy"	4:06
2.	"I Am the Night"	4:27
3.	"Onward We Rock!"	3:56
4.	"D*G*T*T*M" (Darrell Goes to the Movies)	1:43
5.	"Daughters of the Queen"	4:16

Side two

No.	Title	Length
6.	"Down Below"	2:49
7.	"Come-On Eyes"	4:13
8.	"Right on the Edge"	4:06
9.	"Valhalla"	4:05
10.	"Forever Tonight"	4:10
Total length:		37:51

Personnel

All credits adapted from the original LP. ^[2]

Pantera

• Terrence Lee – vocals
• Diamond Darrell – guitars
• Rex Rocker – bass
• Vinnie Paul – drums

Production

• Jerry Abbott – production, engineering, mixing
• Tom Coyne – mastering
• Recorded and mixed at Pantego Sound, Pantego, Texas

References

1. Daniels, Neil (January 1, 2000). Reinventing Metal: The True Story of Pantera and the Tragically Short Life of Dimebag Darrell. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1-4803-6273-4.
2. I Am the Night (LP sleeve). Pantera. Arlington, Texas: Metal Magic Records. 1985. MMR1985.
3. "Pantera Before Pantera: Forgotten Glam Metal Days". Ultimate Guitar. September 26, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
4. Ewing, Jerry (January 15, 2019). "Every Pantera album ranked from worst to best". Metal Hammer . Retrieved May 26, 2021.
5. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "I Am the Night - Pantera | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved July 2, 2014.
6. The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. November 1, 2005. p. 258. ISBN   978-1894959315.
7. The Encyclopedia of Popular Music . Vol. 6. MUZE. 2006. p. 401. ISBN   978-0-19-531373-4.
8. Stratmann, Holger (1985). "Review Album: Pantera - I Am the Night". Rock Hard (in German). No. 16. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
9. "Pantera on Metallipromo". www.metallipromo.com. Retrieved August 13, 2025.
10. Wardlaw, Matt (March 21, 2013). "Rex Brown Goes In-Depth About His New Book and the Legacy of Pantera". Loudwire. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
11. Young, Simon (May 9, 2023). "The 50 most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers ever". Metal Hammer . Future plc . Retrieved December 9, 2024.