Braver Than We Are
by Meat Loaf
Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
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  1. Record Collector
    Oct 7, 2016
    60
    Braver Than We Are knows its audience and plays to it perfectly.
  2. Mojo
    Sep 8, 2016
    60
    A ton of fun, just like the old days. [Oct 2016, p.92]
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  3. The Independent (UK)
    Sep 8, 2016
    40
    Steinman’s sonic fingerprints are all over the album--the furiously arpeggiating piano riffs (one “borrowed” from Randy Newman), the brusque guitars, the Wagnerian pomp--though it is Loaf’s stagey delivery, with that juddering vibrato, which dominates songs.

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User Score
5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 12 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 12
  3. Negative: 4 out of 12
  1. georgecarlin1
    Sep 16, 2016
    10
    I love it better than bat out of hell 3 and and his hang cool teddy bear or his unforgettable hell in a handbasket albums this album ranksI love it better than bat out of hell 3 and and his hang cool teddy bear or his unforgettable hell in a handbasket albums this album ranks up there with bat out of hell 1 and 2 as one of the best albums of meat loaf's career with Jim Steinman making the songs I love it. Thanks meat loaf and jim Steinman.… Full Review »
  2. Tsauru
    Apr 27, 2021
    4
    Based purely on Steinman's songs, the score would be much higher. What lets it down - as other reviews say - is Meat's singing. Quite often -Based purely on Steinman's songs, the score would be much higher. What lets it down - as other reviews say - is Meat's singing. Quite often - even in the star track "Going all the way" - he's an octave below where you think he should be. I guess it's age and life and all the vocal excesses catching up with him, but it makes him sound like someone joining in on a pub karaoke where the song is too high so they sing it lower. Just doesn't sound right. That said, it's the closest we'll get to hearing Meat and the old gang perform these songs so it's a collector or super fans piece. If it's the voice you want then stick to the older records.… Full Review »
  3. ZorroAK
    Dec 20, 2019
    1
    I'm completely puzzled by any review that goes beyond 5 out of 10 - which is the highest score I could comprehend with heavily rose-tintedI'm completely puzzled by any review that goes beyond 5 out of 10 - which is the highest score I could comprehend with heavily rose-tinted glasses. That the songs are mostly leftovers that were written in the seventies isn't the problem. That many of them have been interpreted before in much better versions isn't the problem. That the arrangements are hit and miss isn't the problem. That Who Needs The Young is probably the worst lead-in to an album I've ever had the displeasure of not being able to avoid listening to isn't the problem.

    The problem is Meat Loaf. Have you ever witnessed the tragedy that was the 2011 AFL Grand Final performance? (Look it up on YouTube, it's there in all its tragic glory.) That was an event of dire portent, and five years later his voice hasn't exactly improved. In fact, it's completely ruined. Meat Loaf can't carry a tune if his life depended on it, he whines and moans and wheezes his way through the album with a voice in such a bad condition that I'm absolutely baffled as to why no one seems to have said to him, "Hey, buddy. You DO know that you don't have any business in front of a microphone anymore, don't you? Just let it go and retire in dignity."

    I'm not here to senselessly bash an artist I don't like. I've been a Meat Loaf/Steinman fan since the early eighties, and if they had resolved their differences ten years ago and done this album then, this might have been something. (Granted, there's a lot of total failures on this album, but I would've loved to hear Going All The Way Is Just The Start in Meat Loaf's glory days.) But Meat Loaf's voice is destroyed beyond repair. No one expects him to hit the notes he was able to hit as a young man, no one expects him to display the range he once had. But if there ever was a case in which autotune would've been a blessing, it's this one. Even though he leaves the heavy lifting to Karla DeVito, Ellen Foley and Stacy Michelle - who are doing a fine job and upstage him at every turn, by the way -, he can't even negotiate the easy to sing lines, let alone the hard ones. He's actually really hard to listen to, it's a crying shame.

    Clearly he needed the money, and coping with his failing health surely doesn't come cheap. But this man doesn't belong on the stage or in a recording studio anymore. He should've retired with some dignity. That this is his last collaboration with Steinman AND his last album is truly saddening.    … Full Review »
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