Review Summary: An epic music trilogy ends in both triumph and tragedy.
The original Bat Out Of Hell has to be considered the most unique album to ever sell 30 million copies. Written and delivered by two men with theater pedigrees, containing three songs clocking in at over seven minutes, and giving rise to the single most ridiculous song in the history of pop radio ("Paradise By The Dashboard Light"), Bat Out Of Hell has no contemporary. There is no other album that matches the overblown rock of the title track, the teenage angst of "Paradise By The Dashboard Light", or the theatrical score of "For Crying Out Loud". Unless, that is, you count the sequel.
Sixteen years after the first Bat Out Of Hell caused a stir in the pop scene by breaking all the rules, Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman did it all over again. Mixing the best songs that Steinman had written and produced in the time since the first Bat, and combining them with a handful of new tracks, Bat Out Of Hell II likewise left a smoking crater in the public idea of what pop music could be. With the single "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)", a challenging, confusing, and purely bloated piece of music topped the charts all around the world. Combined, the two Bat albums have sold more than 45 million copies worldwide.
Expectations were set at an unreasonable level when talk about Bat Out Of Hell III made it into the press. Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman were going to unite one last time to finish the epic saga of their music. All great sagas become trilogies, and Bat is no different. Steinman began assembling the songs that would make up the record, writing new tracks, and scouring his stockpile of already written material. Before recording could ensue, Steinman suffered several health setbacks, and the record was delayed indefinitely. Facing his own rapidly ascending age, Meat Loaf made the decision to move forward with the album without Steinman in tow, riling up a sizable portion of his fan-base that couldn't comprehend Bat without it's creator behind the controls.
From the first second the guitars kick in on the opening track, "The Monster Is Loose", the absence of Steinman is readily apparent. The music takes on a different tone from Steinman's Gothic and Wagnerian compositions, moving in a more streamlined direction. Even the musical backdrops of the Steinman penned tracks become simplified, replacing the ornate and percussive piano lines with more contemporary guitars. On some tracks, such as "It's All Coming Back To Me Now", the new take on a familiar song evokes a different mood than the original recording; one that fits in with the general tone of the album much more than Celine Dion's (little known as a cover) version of the sound could. Other tracks, most noticeably "Cry To Heaven" lose all of their emotional impact as guitars replace the fragile piano lines that punctuate the recordings of it's sister-song "Angels Arise", from the musical "Dance of the Vampires".
Desmond Child does his best to keep up with the tradition of Bat Out Of Hell, but much like anyone other than Steinman would find, it's impossible to emulate the style. Child comes closest with his ballad, "Blind As A Bat", which on it's own merit validates the existence of the record. In the five minute running time of the song, we learn that Desmond Child can write an infectious hook, the production spared no expense, and Meat's voice hasn't lost anything from the last time that he resurrected the Bat moniker.
The rest of the Desmond Child penned tracks are innocent enough, but lack the individual spirit that the best Steinman songs were always known for. No song on the record, save possibly for Diane Warren's contribution ("Cry Over Me"), are offensive, but only "Blind As A Bat" reaches the level that was needed to make the record stand in place with it's predecessors. "Seize the Night" tries valiantly to resurrect the entire album on it's own, but the amalgamation of so many Steinmanisms into one song are so bloated and unfocused that the best moments are distracted from, which is the biggest problem with the entire record. There are many good moments to be found in these fourteen tracks, but there's too much surrounding those moments to make the record stand out as the diamond that it could have been. Appearances by Brian May and Steve Vai don't even stand out amongst the overwrought 78 minute running time.
The beauty of the original Bat was the brevity of it's seven track running time. Bat II clocked in at well over an hour, but never felt like it, as the consistent quality of Steinman's songs didn't allow for boredom to set in. On Bat III, fifty to sixty minutes worth of good music are stretched too thin, and no amount of vocal power can save the project.
Kudos must go out to Meat Loaf, who near his 60th birthday displays a simply awe-inspiring vocal ability that shames singers less than half his age. His voice is poised, clear, and powerful, perhaps even more so than in his glory days of the original Bat. The vocals are the best part of Bat III, but not the only enjoyable factor.
It might be long, and it might be too full of itself, but what would a "Bat Out Of Hell" album be like if it weren't? Bat III isn't a direct descendant of the first two, but it's the closest thing we'll ever get. That's enough for me.
