Two decades after its release, the last album in the Bat Out of Hell trilogy still carries the scars of a bitter legal fight, a fractured partnership and a deliberate shift toward heavier rock.
Twenty years ago this week Meat Loaf released Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, the final instalment in the trilogy that defined his career, and the only chapter made without Jim Steinman at the production desk.
The album reached Irish shops on 20 October 2006, almost three decades after the original Bat Out of Hell and thirteen years after Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell. UK fans got it three days later. American buyers waited until Halloween. It remains the ninth studio album of Meat Loaf’s career and the one that closed the Bat cycle under the most strained circumstances of his working life.
By the early 2000s Meat Loaf and Steinman had begun talking about a third Bat record. During the Hair of the Dog tour the singer repeatedly told audiences the pair were preparing new material. Contracts were drawn up. Meat Loaf later described the producer’s deal as one of the most generous in the business. Then health issues intervened. Steinman had suffered setbacks around 2004. Meat Loaf decided he could not wait another year and a half only to discover the composer was still unable to work at the required intensity. He pressed ahead without him.
Steinman’s manager, David Sonenberg, rejected the health explanation. “Jim’s health is excellent,” he told reporters in 2006. “That’s not the reason he didn’t participate.” The real flashpoint was the phrase “Bat Out of Hell” itself. Steinman had registered it as a trademark in 1995. In May 2006 Meat Loaf filed a $50 million lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court seeking to clear the way for the album’s release. Lawyers for both sides circled for weeks. An agreement was reached that summer. Virgin Records described it as amicable and noted that Steinman’s music would remain part of the Bat legacy. Meat Loaf, for his part, insisted the fight was never personal. He blamed the managers and said the dispute was over in three weeks.
Seven Steinman songs still made the final tracklist. Five were covers of earlier recordings. Two came from demos written for unproduced theatre projects. “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” and “The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be” had first appeared on Steinman’s 1989 Pandora’s Box album Original Sin. “Bad for Good” had been the title track of Steinman’s own 1981 record. “In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher Is King” was once intended for a Batman musical. “Seize the Night” had been performed as “Carpe Noctem” in the German production of Tanz der Vampire. “Cry to Heaven” was written for a possible Cry-Baby stage show. “If It Ain’t Broke, Break It” had surfaced on the soundtrack of an MTV Wuthering Heights adaptation.
Desmond Child took over production. Sessions ran from July 2005 to July 2006. Child opened by playing Slipknot records to set the mood. Guest guitarists arrived in force: John 5 on the title track, Brian May on “Bad for Good,” Steve Vai on “In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher Is King,” and John Shanks on several others. Todd Rundgren, who had produced the first Bat album and arranged vocals for the second, contributed background vocals on three songs. Marion Raven duetted on “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.” Patti Russo shared “What About Love?” Jennifer Hudson appeared on “The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be.”
Meat Loaf never claimed to enjoy the studio. He compared the process to daily root-canal treatment. Every note sat under a microscope. He wanted extreme rock players rather than familiar faces, and the finished album reflected that preference. It still carried the theatrical scale of its predecessors, yet the guitars hit harder and the arrangements leaned further into hard rock and metal textures.
Reviews were mixed, as they had been for the earlier Bat records. Some critics missed Steinman’s full involvement and called the album a patchwork. Others praised Child’s recreation of the operatic excess and singled out Meat Loaf’s voice for holding the project together. Q magazine ranked it the second-best Bat album and admired Brian May’s guitar work. Commercial results were solid if short-lived. The record debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 with 81,000 first-week sales in the United States, Meat Loaf’s strongest opening since Bat II. It reached number three in the United Kingdom and earned gold or platinum certifications across Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and the US.
A 112-date world tour followed under the name Seize the Night. Marion Raven opened many of the early 2007 dates and joined Meat Loaf on stage for their duet. A concert film, 3 Bats Live, appeared in 2007. The documentary Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise captured portions of the road work the following year.
The booklet still carried a dedication: “For thirty years of friendship and inspiration, Bat Out of Hell III is dedicated to Jim Steinman.” Julie Bell’s cover art continued the visual lineage of the first two albums, the long-haired biker locked in combat with the giant bat while an angel sheltered behind a ruined pillar.
Two decades on, Bat Out of Hell III stands as the only chapter of the trilogy shaped by conflict rather than collaboration. It closed a cycle that had begun in 1977 with a motorcycle, a teenage dream and a song that refused to leave the charts. The monster, as the title promised, was finally loose. Whether it was the same creature that first flew out of hell remains a question the music itself still answers differently each time the needle drops.
Tracklisting
The Monster Is Loose
Blind as a Bat
It’s All Coming Back to Me Now (Duet with Marion Raven)
Bad for Good (Featuring Brian May)
Cry Over Me
In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher Is King
Monstro
Alive
If God Could Talk
If It Ain’t Broke, Break It
What About Love? (Duet with Patti Russo)
Seize the Night
The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be (Duet with Jennifer Hudson)
Cry to Heaven
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