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Year of the Spider
Studio album by Cold
Released	May 13, 2003
Recorded	September - December 2002 at Bay 7, Studio City
Genre	Alternative metal
Length	64:00
Label	Geffen Records
Producer	Cold, Howard Benson
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Cold chronology
13 Ways to Bleed on Stage (2000) Year of the Spider (2003) A Different Kind of Pain (2005)

Year of the Spider is the third studio album by Floridian post-grunge/hard rock quintet Cold. It was released on May 13, 2003 through Geffen Records. The album was Cold's most commercially successful, debuting at #3 on the Billboard album charts, with over 9,000 copies sold in its first week. Early pressings of Year of the Spider were shipped with a DVD and a temporary tattoo of the Cold spider logo. The DVD included the making of (as well as the actual) the video for "Stupid Girl," fan testimonials, and some home video shot during the recording of the album. This is also the last album with guitarists Terry Balsamo and Kelly Hayes.

A year prior to the album's release, the mellow ballad "Gone Away" was released on the WWE Tough Enough 2 soundtrack. Its music video, which met with considerable airplay upon release, listed it as from the album Year of the Spider despite the long wait for its release. "Gone Away" was subsequently used as a hidden track; the song begins at 16:06 after 13 minutes and 13 seconds of silence (a reference to the superstitious nature of the band's previous effort 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage).

The album was frequently postponed from its projected release date. As early as April 2002, Year of the Spider was scheduled by Geffen for an October 2002 release. Frontman Scooter Ward also expected Elias Soriano of Nonpoint to contribute, but this did not come to fruition.¹

Style

With producer Howard Benson on hand, Year of the Spider is significantly more commercial than its dark predecessor, 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage. It features a variety of guitar styles, violin and cello, and digital effects as well as a number of power ballads. While still dwelling on topics like drug abuse and relationships, the album also explores rape ("Sad Happy"), the deaths of grunge music icons ("The Day Seattle Died"), and blatant criticism ("Kill the Music Industry"). "Cure My Tragedy" also deals with the struggle with cancer Scooter Ward's sister was having during the album's recording. This topic would be further explored on A Different Kind of Pain.

Singles

A particularly catchy track, "Stupid Girl" served as the album's lead single and was the only Cold single to crack the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at #87. Its music video garnered frequent airplay as well. Like "Gone Away," the introductory song "Remedy" was used by WWE as the theme for the Backlash 2003 pay-per-view.

Following the release of the album’s second single, "Suffocate," to radio stations, plans were set-forth for a video to accompany the song. However, for reasons unknown, Geffen refused to make the video or promote the album any further. The stalemate with the label led to frustrations within the band, and in late 2003 Terry Balsamo departed, replacing Ben Moody in Evanescence. Balsamo was later replaced by ex-Darwin's Waiting Room guitarist Eddie Randini. The band made efforts to release another single in "Wasted Years," but Geffen stayed true to their earlier promise by not financing or promoting the album any further.

Track listing

1. "Remedy" – 2:57
2. "Suffocate" – 3:39 (featuring Sierra Swan)
3. "Cure My Tragedy (A Letter to God)" – 3:55
4. "Stupid Girl" – 3:09 (verse lyrics and opening guitar riff written by Rivers Cuomo of Weezer)
5. "Don't Belong" – 3:40
6. "Wasted Years" – 4:07
7. "Whatever You Became" – 3:45
8. "Sad Happy" – 3:36
9. "Rain Song" – 3:37
10. "The Day Seattle Died" – 3:34
11. "Change the World" – 4:01
12. "Black Sunday" – 4:30
13. "Kill the Music Industry" – 19:23
    • "Gone Away" (hidden track, begins at 16:06 after 13:13 of silence- a reference to the superstitious nature of their previous effort 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage) - 3:07

Personnel

• Terry Balsamo - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
• Howard Benson - Piano, Keyboards, Programming, Producer, Soloist
• Adam Daniel - Digital Editing
• Fred Durst - A&R
• Samuel Fischer - Violin
• Julie Gigante - Violin
• Jason Harter - Art Direction, Design
• Kelly Hayes - Guitar
• Olaf Heine - Photography
• Ted Jensen - Mastering
• Vince Jones - Digital Editing
• Roland Kato - Viola
• Armen Ksajikian - Cello
• Jason Lader - Digital Editing
• Ana Landauer - Violin
• Songa Lee - Violin
• Phillipe Levy - Violin
• Jenn Littleton - A&R
• Chris Lord-Alge - Mixing
• David Low - Cello, Contractor
• Deborah Lurie - Conductor, String Arrangements, Synthesizer Strings
• Eric Miller - Engineer, Digital Editing
• Martie Muhoberac - Production Coordination
• Simon Oswell - Viola
• Mike Plotnikoff - Engineer, Digital Editing
• Mark Robertson - Concertmaster
• Jordan Schur - Executive Producer, A&R
• Les Scurry - Production Coordination
• David Speltz - Cello
• Casey Stone - Engineer
• Sierra Swan - Vocals
• Michael Valerio - Bass
• Evan Wilson - Viola

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)

References

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 12 November 2008, at 12:46.

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