F
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Meat Loaf
Bat out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose
Virgin Records
What compels an artist to create? A brilliant idea? Belief that the public can relate to their experience? Perhaps it’s an ungodly yearning to record an ill-timed Celine Dion tune.
Whatever the muse for Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, let’s hope that it’s securely contained somewhere.
The last thing we need is another one of the almighty Loaf’s “bats” foisted upon us.
The Monster Is Loose is sadder than if the Loaf had returned sporting swooping bangs and a Norma Jean T-shirt.
‘With a title sounding more like a pantless frat-boy utterance than anything legitimately rock ’n’ roll, The Monster is Loose flip-flops between styles, ultimately sounding like a soundtrack to a movie no one saw.
From the opening strains of the title track, one is assaulted by the weakest of numetal riffs this side of a Disturbed album.
However, the cover of the Celine Dion classic “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” raises severe questions about the ferocity of this “monster.”
At one moment, Meat Loaf attempts to recapture the swagger of older days, but at other moments he sounds like a broken old man, moralizing and pining for days gone by.
The gratuitous song lengths are comainducing without offering any rewards like “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” or “Two Outta Three Ain’t Bad.”
There’s not even a guilty pleasure track in the bunch—nothing sounding like “I Would Do Anything For Love” to be found.
Not even an impressive guest list, ranging from Nikki Sixx to Brian May, can rescue this sinking ship from being nothing more than fodder for adult alternative junkies.
In short, Bat Out of Hell remains classic, Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell is able, Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose should be avoided at all costs, but as the Loaf himself says “two outta three ain’t bad.”
—Jordon Beenen
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