Meat Loaf‘s reunion with Bat Out of Hell collaborator Jim Steinman is on target for a fall 2015 release date.
The new album, titled Braver Than We Are, has been in the works for some time, and was officially announced in 2014 with the news of Meat’s signing with 429 Records. At the time, plans called for the duo to wrap up recording in the summer of that year with an eye toward releasing the LP in early 2015, and the singer suggested it would serve as a career-capping statement, saying in a press release, “I can’t think of a better way to round out my music career than having another opportunity to work once again with songwriters I so admire.”
News of the new release date comes courtesy of Meat’s Facebook page, where he’s posted a graphic teaser that, according to Melodic Rock, will not be used for the album artwork. And while Steinman is the only producer listed in the picture, Meat’s also reportedly been working with Paul Crook, who’s been part of his band for over a decade and produced 2011′s Hell in a Handbasket LP.
Steinman hasn’t produced a Meat Loaf album since 1993′s Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, the belated sequel to 1977′s multi-platinum Bat Out of Hell. While details are scarce regarding the Braver Than We Are track listing, the title song has been around for awhile, first surfacing as part of the stage musical Dance of the Vampire.
Continuing that “rounding out” theme, Meat told Classic Hits and Oldies that his version of “Braver Than We Are” will see him reuniting with Ellen Foley, his duet partner on the Bat Out of Hell hit “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” as well as Karla DeVito, who appeared in the “Paradise” video and toured with him.
Steinman has reportedly contributed “four or five” songs to the album, which Meat would like “to be absolutely incredible.”
