Review Summary: This is a mediocre, cheesy hair metal album.
Before they were the "Cowboys From Hell", Pantera were a glam metal band. Yeah, that wasn't a typo, glam metal. Before they had Phil Anselmo and before Dimebag was a notorious shredder, Pantera were playing songs in the same vein as Motley Crue and Poison.Projects in the Jungle was Pantera's second album. It was released in 1984, right in the middle of the 80's hair/glam metal scene. Pantera was very successful in the metal scene and had a huge fan base, but the glam metal Pantera?Not so much. They had the right look, spandex and all, but weren't a very big hit with the glam metal crowd. I can't say I blame people either.
The music on this album isn't bad, but it's not really that mind blowing either.You might argue and say that Dimebag was the greatest guitarist ever, but not on this album, save for a few moments.. He was too busy playing standard, mediocre guitar parts on this album. If you went back in time to when this was first released you would have no idea that the guitarist for this band was a fantastic shredder. Pantera falls into a trap here that many other bands do as well. They try to follow the scene.
Guitars aren't the only thing that are average on this album. Drums and bass and pretty much every other thing here is average. I guess it was against the hair metal scene at the time to play your instrument to your full skill because even though there are some great musicians in Pantera, they don't show it here. However average this album might be, there are also a few moments where you can tell that Pantera are getting heavier and becoming more of a metal band. The title track
Projects in the Jungle is one of these moments. It's probably the heaviest and best song on the album and even features some cool licks from Dimebag. The drumming is also at it's tops for this song. The greatest guitar on Projects in the Jungle is in the song
Blue Light Turnin' Red.
Blue Light Turnin' Red is a minute and a half long guitar solo by Dimebag in the same vein as
Eruption by Van Halen.
Now that I've covered the instruments, it's time to move on to the vocals. Terry Glaze, the then vocalist for Pantera, has a typical hair/glam metal voice. It sounds like Joe Elliot of Def Leppard combined with nameless other hair metal singers. It's not surprising that he sings like this when he was the main influence on the band's spandex and hair spray look. Terry's voice isn't anything special and there are definitely many vocalist way better than him. Sometimes it seems like he's trying too hard to sing like a glam metal vocalist than use his actual voice. He struggles to hit high notes a lot of the time and it just comes of making him sound bad. The worst sounding song vocal wise on this album is probably the lame titled
Heavy Metal Rules. You can't get much more cheesy and generic than this song. Terry Glaze wasn't really a master lyricist either. His lyrics are pretty straight forward and generic. Here's a sample from
In Over My Head
"All Alone
Late at Night
I Been Thinking About You
I'm On My Own
It Just Ain't Right
And I Don't Know
Where I'm Gonna Go"
When you look at all of this, you might think "Wow, this sounds like a really crappy album". Well it is. If you're looking for a deep, thought provoking musical masterpiece, don't even come near this. However, if all your looking for is some cheesy, mediocre hair metal, then by all means pick this up and enjoy. If you're a Pantera fan, then I still wouldn't recommend listening to this because this just isn't the Pantera you know and love.
Individual Song Ratings
All Over Tonight - 2.5/5
Out For Blood - 3.5/5
Blue Light Turnin' Red - 4/5
Like Fire - 2.5/5
In Over My Head - 1/5
Projects In The Jungle - 4/5
Heavy Metal Rules - 1.5/5
Only A Heartbeat Away - 1/5
Killers - 2/5
Takin' My Life - 1/5
Bold = Recommended Downloads
Overall: 2/5
