The career of Meat Loaf has now passed the four-decade mark \u2013 a time period during which he has produced some of the most bombastic and overblown music in American rock history. He has also produced some of the most commercially successful music of that period, as his Bat Out Of Hell<\/i> trilogy of albums has spearheaded a series of releases that have sold close to 50 million albums worldwide.<\/p>\n
He has now returned with his 12th studio album, Hell In A Handbasket,<\/i> and it is a dramatic departure from much of the music that preceded it. His off-again, on-again relationship with songwriter\/producer Jim Steinman is off this time, which has significantly altered the singer\u2019s sound. While the keyboards are still present, the guitar is now the dominant instrument, which brings his music close to a straight rock sound.<\/p>\n
Another big change is the lyrics. \u201cHell In A Handbasket<\/i> is the most personal record I\u2019ve ever made,\u201d said Meat Loaf. \u201cIt\u2019s really the first record I\u2019ve ever put out about how I feel about life and how I feel about what\u2019s going on at the moment.\u201d While I agree that the songs are very personal, I\u2019m not so sure they are his stories, as he did not write any of the tracks. Still, the songs are sung with passion, energy, and conviction. Plus, his vocal approach is more under control than in the past.<\/p>\n
What has remained a constant is his backing band, The Neverland Express. Drummer John Miceli, vocalist Patti Russo, guitarist\/producer Paul Crook, guitarist Randy Flowers, sax player David Luther, keyboardist John Avery, and bassist Danny Miranda have developed into a tight and more than competent backing unit. The album tends to flow together well as the stories of life\u2019s stress, the passage of time, loss, and acceptance meander and then rejoin together to create a cohesive whole.<\/p>\n
There are a number of standout tracks. The driving guitars of \u201cStand In The Storm,\u201d with guests Trace Adkins, Lil Jon, and Mark McGrath, and the closing ballad \u201cFall From Grace\u201d are nice counterpoints to each other, as they prove opposites can co-exist. Patti Russo brings her powerful vocal chops to \u201cOur Love And Our Souls\u201d and an odd cover that works, \u201cCalifornia Dreamin.\u2019\u201d The latter track starts out as a traditional interpretation of the Mamas and Papas pop classic, but builds into a rock masterpiece.<\/p>\n
After 40 years, Meal Loaf has produced an adult and mature album of solid rock music. Hell In A Handbasket<\/i> is both familiar and different and is worth a listen for anyone who has appreciated his music in the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":30971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5932],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-42651","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-meat-loaf","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42651"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}