Winters Bane are a heavy/power metal band formed in 1990. They have gone through extensive line-up changes throughout their history with only guitarist and sometime-vocalist Lou St. Paul featuring as an ever-present.
In their first incarnation with Tim "Ripper" Owens (who would later join Judas Priest and Iced Earth), they released the Heart of a Killer album in 1993, a concept piece based on the murderous exploits of a character called Judge Cohagen. This album was re-released in 2000 by Century Media Records as a two-CD set, featuring a bootlegged live gig as a bonus disc.
After the departure of Owens, St. Paul took over the vocal duties for both the unreleased Season of Brutality and Girth, arguably Winters Bane's heaviest work to date.
Following the release of Girth, Winters Bane went into a period of semi-activity while searching for a full-time vocalist. By 2003, German Alexander Koch (ex-Spiral Tower, Powergod) was recruited and a demo was cut. Two years later St. Paul, Koch and veteran drummer Mark Cross entered the studio to record Redivivus, a full-length album released in 2006.
After the release of the album, Koch and Cross were replaced by locally based Jeff Zaigen and former touring drummer Jeff Curenton and there are plans for a sequel to Heart of a Killer to be released in 2007.
Former members Tim Owens and Dennis Hayes would later form their own band, Beyond Fear, and they released their debut album in 2006. The next year, Hayes would also join Owens in Iced Earth as their new bassist.
As early as December 2007, it was rumored that due to Matt Barlow's reunion with Iced Earth (thus the booting of Tim Owens), Tim Owens would return to Winters Bane as its vocalist. These rumors were confirmed, as it was announced that talks of said reunion are under way. "If the right conditions are met," said guitarist Lou St. Paul, "we would put forth our best effort, making of course a 'killer' album, and do a major tour." The rumors also state this follow-up would be a direct sequel to Heart of a Killer.