Bat out of Hell III: The monster is loose --- Meat Loaf --- 2006 (Mercury)
Ye gods! Another "Bat out of Hell"? My very thoughts when I saw this was available, and whereas I had enjoyed the second foray into Satan's domain on the wings of said flying mouse --- I was somewhat doubtful that the franchise --- for such it seemed to be turning into --- could be stretched to a third album. Apart from anything else, I feel and felt that it almost trivialises Meat Loaf's music; it was like saying that he couldn't make an album unless it had this prefix or suffix attached. Now, granted he had turned out two "non-Bat" albums since the second one and four since the first, but even so, this sounded like a backward step. I mean, what if every Iron Maiden album mentioned the Beast (some do, I know) or every Bon Jovi album had "slippery" in the title? Surely Meat Loaf was and is a big enough musical presence to continue his legacy without always looking back?
But there it is: "Bat out of Hell III" and this is what we have to review. Seems that there was some delay in getting the album out as Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf's right hand and power behind the throne wanted to prevent him from using the "Bat out of Hell" phrase, having trademarked it a decade earlier, but that was eventually settled by the men in suits and everything was a go. Although Steinman is again not involved directly in the album, more than half of it centres around compositions of his, either cover versions of already used songs or demos of songs he intended to perform. The man casts a long shadow.
It's a dark, atmospheric keyboard and synthy opening for the opener and title track, very gothic and with heavier guitar than I've heard used on his album recently, provided by John 5 from Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie. To these ears, the big man's voice here is not as strong as I would expect, it's a bit more restrained. The guitar work actually reminds me of John Halliwell's work with Ten, especially on "Return to Evermore" and "The twilight chronicles", and it's a kind of slow or midpaced cruncher, rather than the blistering steamtrain rock we usually get on a Meat Loaf album. Nice soft piano from --- you know, I don't know from who. There's a massive amount of players on this, and I've just scanned the list to see who plays the piano on track one and it doesn't say. Anyway it's a powerful opener, if not as fast as I would have liked, with full orchestra and choir, but "Blind as a bat" starts off as a typical Meat Loaf ballad with a lovely little piano intro, soon taking off as a midpaced tune with a really nice hook.
Some more great orchestral work and backing vocals add to the drama of this song, cool little guitar solo and now Meat is in full flight, the power and passion coming through every pore as he strains at the mike. Excellent stuff. More than a little disappointed though to see so many songs I already know, one of which, "It's all coming back to me now", is next. Popularised by Celine Dion but originally on the Jim Steinman solo project Pandora's Box album "Original sin", which I reviewed about two years ago, so I won't go into this too much here, only to say that this time it's a duet between Meat Loaf and Norwegian singer Marion Raven, who for me sounds a little uncomfortably like Dolly Parton! Um, pass. The idea of a duet is a good one; breathes new life into a song which, while excellent, we've all heard before one way or the other. But I would have preferred someone like Ellen Foley or Patti Russo,both of whom have sung with Meat before and are often identified with him. It's an okay version but I really didn't need to hear it a third time.
The unmistakable wail of Brian May's guitar kicks off "Bad for good", again a Steinman solo released on his album of the same name in 1981, in fact his first solo album. I'd prefer to see Meat Loaf use more of his own material --- as he did on the most recent album, "Hell in a handbasket" --- rather than keep recycling Steinman songs. I mean, if you're into his music then there's a pretty good chance that you've heard Steinman's too, so why repeat it as if it's new? May's guitar definitely adds something to the song, and there's nice piano too, but I do feel a little shortchanged, in the same way as I did when "Surf's up" appeared on "Bad attitude" and "Lost boys and golden girls" closed "Bat out of Hell II". Finally, "Cry over me" is an original song, written by hitmaker Diane Warren. It's a nice swaying ballad with a strong vocal line and some great piano, with again the orchestra lending its weight to the music.
And we're back to the Steinman castoffs. Okay, that's not fair: these songs are not ones he didn't consider good enough to release himself, and most if not all saw the light of publication in one form or another. Still, the reach of Jim Steinman is so overbearing at times that I often wonder if he dies before Meat Loaf will there be something written into the contract between them that Meat has to keep using his songs in his albums? At any rate, the suitably-Steinmanesque-titled "In the land of the pig, the butcher is king" opens with a big heavy guitar punch after some soft and kind of distant synth, and has Meat in full furious energetic mode, almost metal in a way. A dark, epic piece it's quite cinematic in tone, the title obviously a play on the phrase "In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king". It features the inimitable Steve Vai on guitar, and it's been some time since I've heard anything from him so his contribution is certainly welcome and adds a lot of power to an already strong song, allowing it to truly rock out.
A criticism often levelled at Meat Loaf songs is that they go on way too long, and to be fair this is the sort of composition that could easily be stretched to eight or nine minutes, but it comes in at a reasonable five and a half, and the following one is less than two, although it is pretty much an instrumental, carried on rolling, thundering drums and trumpeting pipe organ with an operatic style choir and it leads into two short tracks again, though you know the epic is coming... "Alive" is a typical Meat Loaf rocker in the style of "Peel out" from "Dead ringer" or the title from "Bad attitude", with again bright piano and some squealing guitar, while "If God could talk" betrays a few touches of Marillion in another soft piano ballad which then powers up on the back of the orchestra and a passionate vocal from the man.
Apart from the one after this, everything remaining is Steinman-penned. "If it ain't broke, break it" opens on heavy, punching guitar and odd horns, with a sort of death-soul sound to it (is that a subgenre? If it isn't, I claim its creation!) and rocks out with some crazy guitar solos from Eric Sardinas (no, I don't know who he is either) then the final non-Steinman track is "What about love", with a kind of U2 opening then some very alt-rock piano and a lyric that recalls the best of Springsteen, and a great duet with longtime singing partner Patti Russo. Halfway through it takes off on a typical Meat Loaf upsurge to trundle along like an express train with a great guitar solo. Then we're into that big epic I warned you about, and from here on in as I say it's all Steinman.
"Seize the night" is almost ten minutes long and definitely the longest track on the album, with an almost "Lord of the Rings" intro that allows the orchestra to take the spotlight and lasts for almost two minutes before it falls back to a solitary piano and Meat Loaf's vocal comes in. It's not surprising to find that this song was used in a stage musical, though perhaps what is surprising is that it was in German. Hmm. The piano-and-vocal doesn't last too long as guitar and drums ramp everything back up, then a very annoying boy soprano comes in on the fourth minute, joined by the full choir and then Meat Loaf himself. The tempo picks back up on the back of some strummy guitar and ticking percussion, and something that is endemic to many Steinman compositions crops back up: repetition. Good as some of his songs are, great as others are, a lot of the time he does tend to repeat the same phrases and passages over and over again, leading to the belief that perhaps his songs needn't be as long as they are. As a matter of interest, I hear two former Steinman songs here: there are definite echoes of "Holding out for a hero", which was of course a big hit for Bonnie Tyler, and Meat Loaf's own "Nowhere fast". A man not at all averse to reusing old melodies, our Jim!
It's very good and to be fair it doesn't drag, but I still wonder that it needs to be as long as it is. Still, it's one of only two really long songs on the album, and the next one is yet again from Steinman's Pandora's Box project, in fact the closer for the "Original sin" album. I always loved "The future ain't what it used to be", but again here it's made into a duet, this time with Jennifer Hudson, and I just prefer the original. Take my advice and check out the "Original sin" album; it's a forgotten classic. The album then closes on the short "Cry to Heaven", a lovely gentle little ballad which I guess more or less acts as a coda to the big, bombastic, orchestral work here. Nice low whistle, harp and flute on it gives the song a lovely celtic feel, and some hummed backing vocals work really well too.
TRACKLISTING
1. The monster is loose
2. Blind as a bat
2. It's all coming back to me now
4. Bad for good
5. Cry for me
6. In the land of the pig, the butcher is king
7, Monstro
8. Alive
9. If God could talk
10. If it ain't broke, break it
11. What about love
12. Seize the night
13. The future ain't what it used to be
14. Cry to Heaven
So, on the face of it, not a bad album. But did it have to be a "Bat out of Hell" album? Well, other than "Blind as a bat" there is no reference back to the original (not that there was on the second one either) and I think this album could have easily just been called "The monster is loose" or even "Seize the night". It's pretty obvious Meat Loaf was looking to cash in once again on the enduring popularity of "Bat out of Hell" as his last two albums had certainly not done so well at least Stateside; here he's always been popular and continues to be so. A wise decison in commercial terms, as the album hit the top ten whereas of the two previous, 1995's "Welcome to the neighbourhood" did reasonably well, hitting number 17, though that was probably off the back of the phenomenal success of "Bat out of Hell II" two years prior. The followup, 2004's "Blind before I stop" made a paltry showing of 85. Contrast that with the number 8 position of this album followed by a mere 27 for "Hang cool teddy bear" released in 2010 and a disgraceful 100 for the wonderful "Hell in a handbasket" the year after that. Perhaps if he had called it "Bat out of Hell in a handbasket", eh?
Seems the American record-buying public want only one thing from Meat Loaf, and when they don't get it they don't buy. As I said, here we buy the albums no matter the title. So a good marketing ploy for sure, but how much further can this be stretched you wonder? My other question was when was Meat going to let go the apron strings of Steinman and hurl himself into an album without his safety net? That question was answered in 2010 when the producer and songwriter supreme was not involved in "Hang cool teddy bear", nor was he part of the most recent album. So maybe Meat Loaf has finally cut the ties and can manage to stand on his own two feet? I wsa definitely impressed by the last album, and I am impressed by this too. It's just hard to lavish too much praise on an album when you've heard a large percentage of the songs before, and the name Steinman keeps cropping up all over the place like some sort of Merlin figure.