Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell III
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Tuesday, 24, Oct 2006 03:20
Successor to the first two in the Bat Out of Hell series, Meat Loaf is back with an all-star cast with his first Bat album for 16 years, The Monster Is Loose.
Mercury, out October 23rd
In a nutshell.
Love. Belief. Transcendence. Rock 'n' Roll. Apocalypse.
What's it all about?
How to explain the Loaf to the unconverted? He's fat. He's old. He's never been cool or part of a scene. And he doesn't even write any of his own music.
The cynics would put his fanbase as bikers, those who listen 'ironically' and the thirty-somethings who should know better. Yet previous instalments Bat Out Of Hell I and II have sold 45 million copies between them.
In the 29 years since the first of the trilogy, fashions, attitudes, superstars and politicians have come and gone but Meat Loaf hasn't budged. In fact, he'd probably make compromise the eighth deadly sin.
Not one to put out a fire with anything less than petrol, the opera-trained singer never shirks a solo, cuts short a note or gives anything less than 110 per cent - legend has it, the one time he gave a mediocre performance was when he had a heart attack on stage. He performs, whether on stage or in the studio, with all the passion and conviction you'd expect of a man on the verge of being sent tumbling through chaos and into the fires of hell itself.
It's not cool. But it certainly rocks.
Who's it by
The album includes seven songs by Jim Steinman, the principle songwriter of the first two albums in the trilogy, as well as offerings from Nikki Six (Motley Crue), John 5 (Marilyn Manson) and Marti Frederiksen (Aerosmith). Additional vocals come from Norwegian songstress Marion Raven and Bat I producer Todd Rundgren - even Queen's Brian May makes a contribution to what is to be the final act of the Bat Out Of Hell saga.
But there is no mistaking Meat Loaf as the star of the show. In the words of John 5: "The world knows that he's an amazing talent. He's back and he wants to kick ass. He's living those lyrics."
As an example.
When the apocalypse comes, one man will be supplying the soundtrack:
"Let the end of the world come tumbling down/I'll be the last man standing on the ground/And if my shadow's all that survives/I'm still alive." (Alive)
And don't try to stop him:
"I'm not afraid when they kick me down/I'm not afraid when I start to bleed/I'm not afraid if I live or die/I'm not afraid cause I believe" (Blind As A Bat)
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
The Monster Is Loose will certainly sell well but one suspects that Mr Loaf (as the New York Times calls him) will not be putting in a repeat performance of 1993, when he earned a Grammy for best rock vocal solo performance.
The first single, It's All Coming Back To Me Now, debuted in the charts at number six but it is in the album sales that the armies of fans are likely to make their march to the top spot.
What the others say
"As he blasts out the bell-ringing, choir-filled arias entitled Blind as a Bat and Bad for Good (the latter featuring a hell-for-leather Brian May), you fear for his blood pressure. Meat's beat manifesto should be treasured as the last chapter of a remarkable rock trilogy." - The Guardian (four stars)
"Apart from the annoyingly nu-metal mannerisms, this is the same formula as before: rock for people who really want to listen to show tunes." - The Times (two stars).
So is it any good?
"Though I've walked alone/Down this cold and soulless road/I've always felt you deep in my bones," - the 16 years since Mr Loaf's last outing certainly feels it has been too long, and it's certainly good he's back.
In a decade when an endless conveyor belt churns out shovel-loads of self-fashioned 'The' bands, each ubiquitously proclaiming to be 'the next big thing', Meat Loaf stands firm and delivers an album of operatic rock on the most epic scale. Fans are treated to the metal-edged rock - The Monster Is Loose, In The Land Of The Pig The Butcher Is King - the passionate duets - It's All Coming Back To Me Now, What About Love - the all-out orchestral - Seize The Night - as well as the epic - Blind As A Bat and Alive.
Worthy of note are the album's backing singers; acolytes to the fallen archangel, who trumpet the apocalyptic choruses with their angelic harmonies, before the Texan crusader, along with legions of ravishing guitars, unleashes all of hell's fury on the aghast ears of the listener.
Unfortunately, the only true standard by which The Monster Is Loose can be judged by is its predecessors, which, it must be admitted, are superior. The third instalment is a very good album, fans will certainly not be let down, but at a weighty 14 tracks, it does contain some dead weight - suspected B-sides from Bat Out Of Hell I and II.
Still it's fist-in-the-air stuff - a must-have for those who have a soft spot the melodrama of love, life and the way it's meant to be.
9/10
Kevin Crowley