''Meredead'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

/ Norwegian

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-genre style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitars ...

band

Leaves' Eyes Leaves' Eyes is a symphonic metal band from Germany and Norway. Formed in 2003 by Liv Kristine, formerly the lead singer of Theatre of Tragedy, along with the entire line-up of Atrocity (band), Atrocity, the band has since released eight studio a ...

. It was released on 22 April 2011 on

Napalm Records Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal, hard rock and folk/folk rock/folk metal. Originally, Napalm focused on black metal bands, such as Abigor and Summoning, and folk metal bands, such as Falkenbach a ...

. The Deluxe Edition of the album contains a bonus DVD with five songs from a live performance recorded at the

Metal Female Voices Fest Metal Female Voices Fest was a heavy metal music festival dedicated to List of female heavy metal singers, female vocalists, held annually in the Oktoberhallen in Wieze, Belgium from 2003 to 2016. It was organized by the ''Metal Organisation'', wh ...

, in Wieze, Belgium, on 24 October 2010.

Title

The title is inspired by the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

compound noun ''meredēað'', literally "sea-death", which is attested (in the genitive plural ''meredēaða'') in the passage ''rodor swipode meredēaða mǣst'', literally: "the greatest quantity of sea-deaths scourged the skies", in ''

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

'', the second poem of the

Junius manuscript The Junius manuscript is one of the four major codices of Old English literature. Written in the 10th century, it contains poetry dealing with Biblical subjects in Old English, the vernacular language of Anglo-Saxon England. Modern editors have ...

, in the section telling the story of the

Crossing of the Red Sea The Parting of the Red Sea or Crossing of the Red Sea (, lit. "parting of the sea of reeds") is an episode in The Exodus, a foundational story in the Hebrew Bible. It tells of the escape of the Israelites, led by Moses, from the pursuing Egypt ...

. Alternatively, ''meredēað'' could be translated as "sea of death" or "deadly sea" in view of a later passage in the same text: ''meredēað geswealh'', literally "sea-death swallowed". On her website, Liv Kristine explicitly recommends Marsden 2004, and quotes the explanation for ''meredēað'' given in the book, saying that ''Meredead'' could be translated as "dead by the sea".

Track lists

Personnel

Leaves' Eyes

Liv Kristine Espenæs Liv Kristine Espenæs (born 14 February 1976) is a Norwegian singer who has performed and composed songs mostly for various subgenres of heavy metal music. She started her career in the music industry as a vocalist for the gothic metal band Thea ...

– lead and backing vocals *

Alexander Krull Alexander "Alex" Krull (born 31 July 1970) is a German musician who is the lead vocalist for metal band Atrocity, as well as backing vocalist and keyboardist in the band Leaves' Eyes. Biography Krull was born in Ludwigsburg, where he formed ...

– harsh vocals, keyboards, programming, samples *Thorsten Bauer – guitars, bass, mandolin on tracks 1, 5 and 12 *Sander van der Meer - guitars *Roland Navratil - drums, percussions

Additional musicians

* Lingua Mortis Orchestra from Minsk, Belarus, directed by

Victor Smolski Victor Dmitriyevich Smolski (, , born 1 February 1969) is a guitarist who was a member of the German heavy metal band Rage from 1999 until 2015, and a member of the metal bands Almanac, Mind Odyssey and Lingua Mortis Orchestra (LMO). Biograph ...

*Al dente Choir from Kleinbottwar, Germany, directed by Veronika Messmer *Anette Guldbrandsen - backing vocals, lead vocals on tracks 4, 8, 10, 11 * Carmen Elise Espenæs - lead and backing vocals on track 7 *Maite Itoiz - lead and backing vocals on tracks 2 and 6, baroque guitar on track 12 *John Kelly - lead vocals on track 12 *Christian Roch - Uilleann pipes and whistles *Janna Kirchhof - fiddle on tracks 2, 3 and 11, nyckelharpa on track 4

Production

*Alexander Krull - producer, engineer, mixing and mastering at Mastersound Studios *Thorsten Bauer, Liv Kristine Espenæs - assistant engineers *Victor Smolski - orchestra recording engineer *Orchestral arrangements by Leaves' Eyes

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2011 albums Leaves' Eyes albums Napalm Records albums Albums produced by Alexander Krull Crossing the Red Sea