Music shall never die, at least to Cold frontman Scooter Ward. After an almost indefinite hiatus with the grunge rock band, Ward began to put his musical passions elsewhere: that lucky project being known as The Killer and the Star. It took almost eternity to find the right name, label, and a release date, until finally after a great cult following (and the reunion of Cold itself) Ward finally gave the fans his debut album. And it is most certainly a "killer."
First off, The Killer and the Star is nothing like Cold... it is not hard or pop rock. There are no heavy driven guitar melodies like on the earlier albums or upbeat, catchy rhythms on the more recent ones. The music is basically smooth and slow. In fact, one could basically label this electronic as Ward sings his heart out backed by piano, orchestra, keyboards, and tons of electronic beats mixed with some guitar (barely audible) and very heavy bass. The piano is main instrument here; regarding Ward's other band, Cold, it has made its appearances on the last two albums, Year of the Spider and A Different Kind of Pain, but it was not the primary sound. Here on Killer and the Star, it really gets its chance to shine. And it works spectacularly.
Another interesting aspect is that the production of the sound is little grittier and faded than what most of Cold's fans may be used to, especially when it comes to the vocals. Scooter Ward tends to make his voice either electronically faded on tracks like "One Fine Line" or sings without much studio production help that makes his voice sound so mechanically clean on Cold's abums. Some may complain about this, but supporters could also note that it makes his songs sound so much more raw and emotional. On "Angel's Fall" it sounds like he's wailing his heart out on the chorus which will either strike you as heartfelt or annoying; listener's choice.
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