I Am the Night is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Pantera, released on August 16, 1985, through Metal Magic Records. It was the last Pantera album to feature lead singer Terry Glaze.
I Am the Night was made available only on vinyl and cassette, with any subsequent CD releases being bootlegs transferred from the vinyl or tape originals. 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.
Contents
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."
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."
Metal Hammer included the album cover on their list of "50 most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers ever".
Track listing
All credits adapted from the original LP.
Personnel
All credits adapted from the original LP.
Pantera
Terrence Lee – vocals
Diamond Darrell – guitars
Rex Rocker – bass guitar
Vinnie Paul – drums
Production
Jerry Abbott – production, engineering, mixing
Tom Coyne – mastering
Recorded and mixed at Pantego Sound, Pantego, Texas