The long-awaited third record in the Bat Out of Hell trilogy, The Monster Is Loose, wears bombast, pretension, and pyrotechnics proudly on its album sleeve and across the bulging disc's 14 tracks. More a pop orchestral mishmash than a well-defined rock opus, Bat III is dark, seemingly hopeless at times, and über dramatic. Oddly enough, that's also its saving grace. Meat Loaf and company create a great escape into the realm of grand theatricality, with a bunch of radio-friendly rock tunes that sound 20 years old, and several lyrically memorable AOR ballads to sustain it all the way to Broadway. With collaborator (and occasional defendant in Meat Loaf lawsuits) Jim Steinman, producers Desmond Child and Todd Rundgren, the Meat man consistently has the big sound booming and his despair and his rage on to the point that listeners may feel his pain a little too often. Bat III ain't for sissies. Balanced by the powerful female voices of Marion Raven, Patti Russo, and Jennifer Hudson; along with guest musicians and songwriting help from Steve Vai, Marilyn Manson's John 5, Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx, Queen's Brian May, and others; Meat Loaf's Monster has roared the unlikely rock star back to life like a bat out of Baghdad.