| CD REVIEW Mendeed (Part two) |
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Band : Mendeed (Part two) In full trottle as songwriters now, Mendeed issued This War Will Last Forever [licenced to Nuclear Blast for release in June with new bonus tracks "The End Of Man" and "Divided We Fall", the original cover art on the Rising Records version was different; a Japanese version of the album would contain bonus tracks "Laid To Waste" (off the Ignite The Flames EP), "Perpetual Sin" (off the From Shadows Came Darkness mini-album), and "Messiah" (off the forthcoming Act Of Sorrow EP)], which got the band noominations for "Best Newcomer" at both Metal Hammer and Kerrang! awards. The latter were so impressed with the band they invited them to contribute a version of "The Thing That Should Not Be" to the Remastered album, this being a complete remake of Metallica's Master Of Puppets album, issued in joint celebration of the 20th anniversary of the album's release and the 25th anniversary of the British Rock magazine. The track got the band a Gold Disc at the Kerrang! Awards in 2006! Meanwhile, Mendeed's profile skyrocketed as they toured with the likes of Anthrax, Fear Factory (5 European shows), Cradle Of Filth, and Napalm Death, as well as playing support slots with Avenged Sevenfold, Bleeding Through, Shadows Fall, Skindred, Slipknot, and Trivium, plus playing several headlining shows in between, and attending that year's Download Festival. Later in 2006, the band first went on a short UK headliner tour with Kingsize Blues and Solitude as supports (early October) and then supported Slayer on the British leg of the latter's Unholy Alliance tour. Clearly, it was time to capitalize on the band's success, and what with the band's EP's being somewhat more difficult to get (due to the limited copies made), a compilation was at hand! From the full-length released earlier that year, the tracks "Poisoned Heart", "The Reaper Waits", "Stand As One Fight For Glory", and "Beneath A Burning Sky" were taken...completed with the non-album tracks "Laid To Waste" and "Fall To Me" off the Ignite The Flame EP, "Hollow" and "Messiah" off the Act Of Sorrow EP, and "The End Of Man" & "Divided We Fall" off the Beneath A Burning Sky EP...making for a total of 42 ½ minutes of listening time. The songs are rather unified in sound, and show a band which evolved even further from their mini-album. Of course the debut full-length still had an intro, but otherwize the songs on this compilation show a band without frills, concentrating on their unified up-tempo Thrash/Metalcore hybridised music. The only clean vocals on the tracks displayed [there's some on "Stand As One...", "Beneath The Burning Sky", "Laid To Waste" (and there coùld be some guests here, because the backing vocals sound too grand to be brought by just Lavery alone), "The End Of Man",and album closer "Divided We Fall" – which has somewhat of a premonitionary title, don't you feel?] and otherwise even the lead singer adopted his voice to sound somewhat less like a displeased pig overall (although "Fall To Me" is somewhat of an the exception to that rule). In other words, the guys were definitely getting into their style...maturing, so to say! The band's second album The Dead Live By Love was released in February 2007, reaching #4 in the British Rock Charts. In spite of this success, the band failed to support the album with live activities (at least according to their biography, because according to announcements at their MySpace page the band wàs confirmed to play at Bloodstock and Wacken Open Air festivals...whether they actually did is something I failed to be able to find out due to me being at the wrong place at the moment I'm making this review – no Internet at home, see?), and they officially split up on Sept. 4 of the same year, guitarist Steven Nixon announcing on the band's MySpace page: "Mendeed have regrettably broken up due to irreconcilable difference with out manager. We would like to thank all out fans for believing in us and helping us as far as we did. I really wish things would have turned out different for us. Thanks to everyone tht had faith in us, we'll miss you all." Following the band's demise, Steven Nixon went on to play with Welsh Anterior (check 'em at myspace.com/anterior), and in September 2008 drummer Kevin Matthews announced having joined Glasgow Metalers Madman Is Absolute (myspace.com/madmanisabsolute). Both announcements made through Mendeed's former page on MySpace, myspace.com/mendeed, where even today you can find a threesome of tracks off the band's final album for your listening pleasure. Well, this being a compilation, you can hardly expect me to give you a rating, okay? Tony. |