The most noticeable difference with this third chapter is that longtime collaborator Jim Steinman is not present. Sure, Meat Loaf covers seven Steinman tracks, but the man who presided over the Broadway bombast of the two previous Bat albums didn't have any involvement with the production of the album. This time around that chore was taken up by Desmond Child, best known for working with such arena rock stalwarts as Cher, Michael Bolton, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, KISS, and Ricky Martin. While Child may be lacking the Broadway experience of Steinman, he's still very much in tune with the nuances of slick rock production.
Another major difference is that while in the past Meat Loaf employed well known session musicians, here he has also enlisted the services of such legendary guitar gods as Steve Vai (on the track "In The Land Of The Pig, The Butcher Is King") and Brian May (on the track "Bad For Good"). Top it off with the fact that few of the tracks ever eclipse the 7-minute mark and you've got yourself a rather streamlined Bat indeed.
Much of the charm (and cheese) of the previous Bat albums was derived from Steinman's definitive Broadway musical approach to the rock opera. Sadly, the title track this time around eschews any of that in favor of bloated faux industrial/mock hard charging post-post-post Nu Metal swagger. While Loaf certainly maintains his own on the track, the overall sound is a little late given that the Nu Metal humrush died down years ago.
The album's second track, "Blind As A Bat" serves up the emotional power ballad that we all know and "love" Meat Loaf for being the master of. The track also showcases a rougher edge to his voice. Granted he's much older than he was in 1993, but he's lost some of the smooth, tenor charm and replaced it with a more aggressive, almost angry urgency. And Child's production, while keeping in tune with the previous releases, still feels a little extra slick and somewhat vapid (there's much more of an emphasis on electronic embellishment this time around).
"It's All Coming Back To Me Now" is the first of the Steinman cover tunes. As in the past Meat Loaf has chosen a virtual unknown female vocalist (think Mrs. Loud from "I'd Do Anything…") to duet with him. In this case it's Norwegian waif Marion Raven. Loaf drops the guttural angst and actually sings crystal clearly, playing off Raven rather well to create a purebred Top 40 love ballad supreme. It's like the '80s had never died.
With May's distinctive six-string ripping "Bad For Good" (yet another Steinman number) comes off like a forgotten Queen or Who number as re-envisioned by Loaf. The familiar backing vocal doo-wop embellishment (a Steinman trademark) help elevate the track beyond melodramatic pap. The mood is drastically altered, however, on "Cry Over Me," which sounds like a generic modern rock slow number. Granted Loaf does some interesting wavers with his vocals and is seriously working in passionate overdrive, but the tracks just feels out of place to an extent.
Hands down "In The Land Of The Pig, The Butcher Is King" wins top prize for best song title ever. Not surprisingly, it's another metal infested romp that sounds more in tune with the images that the term "bat out of hell" conjures up. Sadly, within the context of the BOOH albums, it's a shift into musical terrain that just doesn't fit the established mold. Actually Loaf's heavy metal alter ego would have been much better served back in 1993. Now it just sounds out of step and out of place.
"Monstro" goes straight for that Omen vibe with Latin lingo sung by a chorus of men and women, lifting up from the Stygian depths to spread their wings heavenward. It's only 1-minute and 39-seconds, which is too bad. Thankfully it bleeds effortlessly into "Alive" which seems more like an autobiographical rant than a Desmond Child penned operatic indulgence. "If God Could Talk" features Loaf getting all vibrato and keeping his melodrama locked into overdrive. Thankfully the chorus is joyfully over exposed and hopelessly out-of-date (it would work quite well on Back Into Hell, that's for sure).
The Steinman number "If It Ain't Broke Break It" gets the screaming mimi metal overhaul and echo effect horn driven blitzkrieg. It's a veritable mish-mash of contradicting stylistics. Again Loaf reverts to his Mr. Hyde growl and angry madman vocal stance, which just seems ridiculous in context. "Seize The Night" is yet another Steinman number, this time delivered with the appropriate amount of Broadway infused candor (albeit with a cringe inducing hair metal guitar solo which is thankfully overshadowed by the angelic vocal interludes). Ditto for "The Future Aint' What It Used To Be" and "Cry To Heaven," the closing numbers on the album.
Sandwiched between the final tracks is the euphuistic "What About Love" featuring Patti Russo. It's a drop dead throwback to 1977 in that it sounds as if it were dredged up from a sonic time capsule and could easily have been a studio outtake from the original Bat Out Of Hell. To his credit, it's the most streamlined and clear headed of the Desmond Child contributions.
There's no doubt that The Monster Is Loose is part of the entire Bat Out Of Hell trilogy, the presences of Meat Loaf and the fantasy derived album artwork guarantee this, but in terms of where it stands when measured against the two previous endeavors, it's blatantly apparent that Jim Steinman's presence is sorely missed. The inclusions of the metal inclined tracks are merely one aspect of this, but on the whole the album doesn't have the same warm gasconadic vibe of the previous two. That is to say that there is a certain charm that seems absent this time around. Given that Steinman wasn't directly involved, Loaf might have been better served working under a different title. Still, there's no doubt that Bat loyalists will feel a certain surge of completeness with this release. For the rest of us, we'll just have to settle for momentary flashes of brilliance and the knowledge that we can always flick the disc off and switch to the earlier Bat albums or take a break and watch Loaf as the insatiable Leonid in Bloodrayne.
Definitely Download:
1. "Blind As A Bat"
2. "It's All Coming Back To Me"
3. "Bad For Good"
4. "Alive"
5. "Seize The Night"
