Description
1992 Reborn classics releases featuring the seond and third of Panteras private pressed early albums
Projects In The Jungle 1984 This is 80s hair metal no doubt, but there are several songs on this album that are faster and heavier and Dimes playing has improved. Unlike their debut album, which was heavily influenced by Kiss, this album tends to have more Judas Priest influences. The production is a lot clearer and louder and along with heavier riffs makes the sound so much better than their first record. There are a couple of pure metal numbers here, ‘Projects In The Jungle’ and ‘Heavy Metal Rules’. The latter is pretty dull but the former is the best track here! Speed Metal, like the title track on ‘Metal Magic’ but this time with heavier riffs and drum work that’s even reminiscent of the Cowboys album. Yes back in 1984 they showed traces of where they were going to go. Other highlights here include ‘All Over Tonight’ which has another bludgeoning riff, ‘Like Fire’ which whilst being glam lyrically has riff work which is catchy as hell and ‘Blue Light Turnin Red’ is a third rate version of Van Halen’s ‘Eruption’. People who love the later Pantera work will probably always hate the four first album but if youre interested to see where there heaviness came from then check this out. You’ll be surprised! I Am The Night 1985 Judging on the band’s previous two efforts (Projects in the Jungle especially) Pantera have proven themselves capable of writing damn good 80s glam metal songs, as well some pretty killer speed metal as well. Annoyingly, they’ve also proven themselves capable of writing really awful ballads that sound exactly the same and are just there for the sake of having ballads. It was this single flaw that prevented the previous album from achieving a near-perfect score. The production was great, the instrumentation was great and the good songs were great. The ballads were the concrete shoes that forced the album to drown in a sea of tedious mediocrity. With their third album ‘I Am The Night’, the band have clearly come to their senses, sat down and pulled their shit together and release a full blown highly consistent heavy metal album. And have they succeeded? Well, upon close observation I’m delighted to discover they have. This is some great 80s US metal with some speed metal songs like ‘Down Bellow’ with it’s hard hitting thrashy riffs, the awesome power metal number that is ‘Valhalla’ and the title track were the late Diamond Darrel treats us to a few seconds of his killer fast shredding that he’d later become famous for, before bursting into a vicious speed metal riff, that develops into the heaviest song on the album, and easily the most evil sounding thing they’ve done up till this point. Virtually everything is an improvement over the previous album, and aside from the severe case of balled abuse, that album was already very good. The production here is pretty much what you’d expect for an album of this style and era, and it does the job very nicely. Terry’s vocals had already taken a huge step forward over ‘Metal Magic’ on the previous album, and here things are even better; this time sounding like a cross between Rob Halford’s falsetto ‘Painkiller’-style shrieks and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, maybe with a bit of Dee Snider and Vince Neil thrown in as well. A great combination, I must say. If this album had just got a bit more promotion, a bit more attention, it wouldn’t have gone down in history as an embarrassing past for a band, but as what it truly is; a no nonsence, balls out, headbanging, pure heavy metal album.
Track listing:
1. All Over Tonight-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
2. Out For Blood-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
3. Blue Light Turnin Red-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
4. Like Fire-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
5. In Over My Head-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
6. Projects In The Jungle-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
7. Heavy Metal Rules-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
8. Only A Heartbeat Away-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
9. Killers-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
10. Takin My Life-from Projects In The Jungle 1984
11. Hot And Heavy-from I Am The Night 1985
12. I Am The Night-from I Am The Night 1985
13. Onward We Rock-from I Am The Night 1985
14. D*G*T*T*M-from I Am The Night 1985
15. Daughters Of The Queen-from I Am The Night 1985
16. Down Below-from I Am The Night 1985
17. Come-On Eyes-from I Am The Night 1985
18. Right On The Edge-from I Am The Night 1985
19. Valhalla-from I Am The Night 1985
20. Forever Tonight-from I Am The Night 1985