And the winner is: Original 1985 cassette release. This is a godawful album, far and away the worst in all Pantera's glam era catalog, and it's not at all surprising that the band later refused to acknowledge it. That said, it isn't all unlistenable garbage. "Onward We Rock!" begins as a surprisingly catchy anthem that unfortunately wears out its welcome pretty quickly, while "D*G*T*T*M" serves up an obviously Eddie Van Halen inspired guitar solo by "Diamond" Darrell Abbott that's interesting for its historical value but which is marred by ridiculous synth and over the top vocal effects. "Right on the Edge" does feature a pretty killer guitar hook, but it's brought down by the awful chorus and middle eight sections of the song, as well as by Terry Glaze's terrible vocal performance. "Down Below" does show promise, but the re-recording the band later made with Phil Anselmo on Power Metal is far better. As for the rest of the album, title cut "I Am the Night" sounds like something pilfered from Judas Priest's trash can; unfortunately, Terry Glaze is no Rob Halford, and Pantera - particularly at this point in their career - were no Judas Priest. And everything else - "Hot and Heavy," "Daughters of the Queen," "Come-On Eyes," "Valhalla," and album closer "Forever Tonight" - is simply horrible. Honestly, there is promise here, and there is some exceptional early playing by Darrell Abbott, but what there is of it is completely ruined by terribly dated production and horrible vocal performances. If some of this material were cleaned up and a better vocalist employed, it wouldn't be half bad. I could honestly see Power Metal versions of "Right on the Edge" and "Valhalla" almost working with Phil Anselmo.

So, on to the actual comparison. The compact disc sounds terrible - extremely thin and full of treble, with hardly any bottom end to it. As there has never been an official digital release of this album, the bootleggers had the option of transferring from either cassette or vinyl. Vinyl was used, and ordinarily that would be a good thing, but the transfer here is nearly as bad as the music itself. The stylus on the record player is obviously worn and in need of replacement, something which becomes ever more painfully evident as it proceeds farther along each side of the original source disc. Added to this is an extremely noticeable scratch which mars the playback of album closer "Forever Tonight," something that could and should have been digitally removed before this release was mastered. Then again, this is a bootleg, essentially a crass cash in by some fly by night company seeking to make a quick buck by exploiting the band's later fame and notoriety. On the other hand, the cassette isn't that great, either, marred throughout by a muddy, Dolby-free sound which has plenty of dull sounding bass but not nearly enough brightness or high end to it. I've owned two copies over the years, both of which have suffered from the same afflictions, and this leads me to believe that the issues are ultimately rooted in the duplication process used. I've had other 1980s era cassettes from major labels that sounded just fine, so I can only assume that the facilities available to small local indie labels like Pantera's Metal Magic were simply inferior. I'd like to hear what a first pressing vinyl copy of this album sounds like on good equipment, but I've never gotten my hands on one, and this album frankly isn't good enough to justify throwing down $100 or more for a copy. So I'm giving this one to the cassette release. The bootleg actually had the potential to sound better, but it doesn't (only bad in a different way), and I don't really recommend either one.

As a side note, the stereo is reversed on the cassette compared to the bootleg CD, and I'm not sure which is correct given the sloppy jobs done on both. If I have to make a choice, I'm more inclined to fault the bootleggers on this one. There's also more blank space between individual songs on the CD as compared to the cassette. This could be the result of a sloppy CD mastering job, or perhaps there really is longer spacing between songs on the original LP as compared to the cassette releases.