Heart of a Killer is Winters Bane's debut album, released in 1993. It is a partial concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

, with the first six songs detailing the story of a judge who sentences a murderer to death, and soon afterwards has his heart replaced with the killer's in a transplant operation.

Heart of a Killer was re-released by Century Media in 2000, featuring a bonus disc comprising a live recording from a radio broadcast and a demo

Demo (music)

A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

. A live recording of the band performing as a Judas Priest tribute band British Steel was submitted to Judas Priest

Judas Priest

Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...

 by someone who knew the band, convincing them to hire Tim Owens as a replacement for Rob Halford

Rob Halford

Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is nicknamed the "Metal God" as a tribute to his influence on metal, and after the Judas Priest song of the same name from 1980's...

 in 1996.

Track listing

All songs written by Lou St. Paul, except for where noted.

1. "Wages of Sin" (Tim Owens, St. Paul) - 6:28
2. "Blink of an Eye" (Owens, St. Paul) - 3:59
3. "Heart of a Killer" - 4:24
4. "Horror Glances" - 5:01
5. "The Silhouette" - 3:34
6. "Reflections Within" (Owens, St. Paul) - 5:41
7. "Haunted House" - 3:49
8. "Nightshade" (Owens, St. Paul) - 5:17
9. "Winters Bane" (Winter's Bane) - 4:33
10. "Cleansing Mother" - 5:28

2000 re-issue bonus disc

1. "Wages of Sin"
2. "Blink of an Eye"
3. "Heart of a Killer"
4. "Horror Glances"
5. "The Silhouette"
6. "Reflections Within"
7. "Haunted House"
8. "Fear of Death"
9. "Cleansing Mother"
10. "My Dagger's Revenge" (demo)
11. "Eyes of the Deceiver" (demo)
12. "Seven Nations" (demo)

Credits

• Tim Owens - Vocals
• Lou St. Paul - Rhythm, Lead and Acoustic Guitars
• Dennis Hayes
  Dennis Hayes (bassist)
  Dennis Hayes is an American bass guitarist, currently playing for Beyond Fear.Hayes began his career with the heavy metal band Wretch. Later he was a founding member of the Progressive Heavy Metal band Castle Black with other former members of Wretch, Nick Giannakos and Drummer, Jeff Currenton...
  
  - Bass
• Terry Salem - Drums
• Gerhard Magin - Keyboards