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On the racks: October 31, 2006

Meat Loaf

Meat Loaf is still Meat Loaf, no question about that. And those of us who scoffed at Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell (MCA), learned our lesson when “I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)” became a megahit.  In other words, anything really is possible and we’re not going to make the mistake of betting against possibility that Bat Out of Hell III (Virgin) will be on top of the charts this time next week. And this time there’s drama involved: Loaf used a bunch of old Jim Steinman tunes without his old songwriting partner’s blessing and then went to Diane Warren and Desmond Child for the rest of the disc.

That said, Bat III is going to get some stiff competition from Saturday Night Wrist (Warner Bros.), the new salvo from Deftones. With production by both Bob Ezrin and Dan “the Automator” Nakamura — plus cameos by System of a Down’s Serj Tankian and Giant Drag’s Annie Hardy — it promises, at very least, to be one of their most diverse heavy hitters. And it’s been almost three full years since the last Deftones disc.

It’s also been a long wait for England’s grime scene queen, but the Jay-Z-signed Lady Sovereign finally has her US debut out on Def Jam. The little lady from across the pond has been rapping her way across the States since this Summer. Now, with Public Warning in stores, she can actually start moving some product.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t give props to Isis, the ambient metal monolith Hydra Head-owner Aaron Turner started right here in Boston almost a decade ago. They’ve come a long way since: earlier this year they collaborated with the Scottish indie band Aeroegramme on an EP for Konkurrent’s “In the Fishtank” series of unlikely collaborations. And the last Isis album, Panopticon, came out in tandem with an disc of remixes from Oceanic, their 2002 disc. But all you need to know is that they’re back with another full length, In the Absence of Truth on Mike Patton’s Ipecac imprint.

As for scary Halloween stuff, most of that came out last week. But we’ve got one for you: Flavor Flav has a new album. It’s called Flavor Flav (Draytown), and the first single’s called “Flavor Man.” Actually, that’s more funny than scary. . .