Less than a year after their last release, the Scottish band Mendeed are back with a new album. As far as genre classification, I'd put them somewhere between metalcore and deathcore with a dash of power metal metal thrown in. There are the thrashy riffs, shredding solos, frequent breakdowns and the combination of melodic vocals.
The strongest part of The Dead Live By Love are the dual guitars of Steven Nixon and Steph Gildea. They are able to play really fast and technical in the vein of bands like Dragonforce, but also have the ability to get into a really good thrash groove. The band's songwriting has improved since their last album, with more diversity and more memorable songs.
The vocals on this album are also diverse. They go from death metal growls to hardcore yells to melodic singing. Solid but not spectacular, they take a backseat to the guitars on most songs when it comes to performance. When the genre has any kind of "core" in it, there is a good chance it will be completely mediocre, but I was pleasantly surprised with Mendeed.
