The lone break in the Steinman-written ending of so-called Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose is the dramatic power ballad “What about Love,” featuring co-lead vocals by Patti Russo. It’s perhaps the most nakedly Steinman-copying song on the album, but it actually does a decent job. It’s a dramatic power ballad that sort of apes Steinman’s style and then has a faster, foot-stomping bridge that’s the kind of change-of-pace that Steinman would write but few others would. Patti Russo still sounds excellent, and she and Meat Loaf of course work well together. That song could get away with claiming to be a Steinman work without really standing out like a sore thumb.

And then the album finishes with a triptych of Steinman songs, beginning with “Seize the Night” from Tanz der Vampire, originally titled “Carpe Noctem.” Meat Loaf and company add an introductory passage from “The Storm” and use the lyrics from Dance of the Vampires.

We open with a piece of “The Storm” played at a noticeably faster pace than on Bad for Good. There is enough difference that it’s clear this is a new recording, but it’s also definitely recognizable. The orchestra then disappears except for some strings that join a piano, choral backing vocals, and Meat Loaf’s lead. After one verse, the guitar riff from “Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)” serves to transition between vocal sections. A heavier rock section continues behind Meat Loaf as he returns for a very different melody. Then, most of the background goes away and leaves behind just the rhythm section, some electric guitar, and some organ as the backing vocalists chant in Latin and Meat Loaf fronts them in an English counterpoint. We go through the pattern again, skipping the “Good Girls Go to Heaven” part and then get a louder, more frenzied version of the “Good Girls Go to Heaven” riff. After that, Meat Loaf finally sings the melody that includes the title himself, on top of essentially just a piano, before one more short burst of the “Good Girls Go to Heaven” riff.

The individual parts of this song work well enough. The main chorus melody is really catchy and fun. There’s a great mix of “classical” instruments and rock instruments that feels fairly cohesive–it doesn’t feel gimmicky. But the sudden transitions between sections and just how different from each other they feel in general both make it feel like something of a mess. One of the problems I often have with musical theater works is that it feels like individual pieces are written separately and then jammed up next to each other with no cohesion, and that’s how this song feels. It’s possible that the “Good Girls Go to Heaven” hard rock riff and the “Seize the Night” choral chorus could co-exist in the same song, but the way they are presented here just feels like they were randomly thrown in a hat and then drawn to decide the order.

While the lyrics here are definitely better than “If It Ain’t Broke Break It,” they are still awfully repetitive and simplistic. It’s just saying, pretty directly, that the light is oppressive and limiting while darkness is liberating and freeing, so embrace the darkness. There is also a real clunker of a couplet repeated twice in “So open up your arms and get down on your knees/You’re sucking on the darkness and you’re ready now to seize.” It feels like Steinman wanted to try to match “Can’t you see my faded Levis bursting apart” but this version honestly just doesn’t work at all.

Also uneven is Meat Loaf’s lead vocal. He sounds good in some places, strained in others. There doesn’t even seem to be a consistency to a part of his range that sounds weak or anything–he just randomly sounds fine and then not and then fine again. It’s not like this gets anywhere near Dead Ringer territory, but he definitely does not sound his best.

All told, this is a difficult song. It’s got a lot of good points, but nothing works together and it’s extremely inconsistent. It’s a Tanz der Vampire song in all the best and worst ways: huge, aggressive, with some really good moments, but not really a “song” at all and with some real annoyances. I can see people really hating this song. I find it difficult to imagine anyone really loving it.