KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: *
The weird thing about this sequel-beyond-redemption is how little Meat Loaf sounds like himself - that distinctively powerful heldentenor now has none of the amusing menace or gravitas that it had in Bat I and less so in Bat II.
It doesn't help that he's roped in jobbing songsmiths such as Diane Warren and Desmond Child to write for him. But who could blame them? The idea of creating something bombastic and silly must have been tempting and they got to pen nonsense with titles like Blind As A Bat, Monstro and If God Could Talk which sit neatly alongside Jim Steinman's In The Land of the Pig The Butcher Is King and If It Ain't Broke Break It. So far so funny.
But what is missing here (aside from songs with parentheses in the title) is the understanding of what made the first Bat so brilliant. That album was an implosion of Phil Spector production, girl group pop, Wagnerian pomp and classic dramatic rock in which Meat Loaf was, as he often pointed out, an actor more than a singer who played the parts to the edge of their absurdity. That made it fun.
But for Bat III he is captive to dunderhead metal guitars (in places this is more Anthrax and Pantera than Meat Loaf) and mock Carmina Burana choral parts. Humourless nonsense.
Label: Mercury
Verdict: Mr Loaf takes the joke a step too far. Back to Hell, Mr Loaf.
