Cold found mainstream success with 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage (2000) and its follow-up Year of the Spider (2003), which saw the band incorporate influences of post-grunge and alternative rock into their sound; both albums were certified Gold by the RIAA, with the latter reaching number three on the Billboard 200 chart and producing the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, "Stupid Girl".

Three and a half years later in 1995, Grundig broke up and Ward moved back to Jacksonville, where he, McCandless, Kelly Hayes, and Pat Lally formed the band Diablo.

[3][4] Regardless of the label's poor promotion of the album, Cold soon opened for Limp Bizkit and Soulfly during a brief European tour in the spring of 1998.

Its cover photo, taken by the wife of McCandless, depicts their pet tarantula named Wednesday, crawling on the face of her doll.

The band sought a signature element that fans could remember them by, and Wednesday served as the inspiration; McCandless gave a particularly favorable image of a spider to a friend and tattoo artist who transformed it into what would become Cold's official logo.

In 1999 before recording the album, the group recruited local guitarist Terry Balsamo, who briefly played for Limp Bizkit.

[7] 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage proved to be Cold's breakthrough album with successful singles in "End of the World" and "No One" frequently played on hard rock radio, with "No One" hitting No.

The stalemate with the label led to frustrations within the band, and in January 2004 Terry Balsamo departed, replacing Ben Moody in Evanescence.

A week later, Hayes officially confirmed his position as the guitarist in the Jacksonville hard rock outfit Allele, a move that had been in the works from the time Terry Balsamo left the band.

[9] Around this time, Cold recorded the soundtrack for the video game Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy featuring the songs "With My Mind",[10] "Came All the Way" a b-side from Year of the Spider, "Just Got Wicked (Chris Vrenna Remix)", and "Go Away (Chris Vrenna Eye Socket Remix)" and embarked on a short tour with Sevendust in support of "With My Mind", the single released from the CD.

The album was originally to be titled And a Sad Song Lives On but was later changed to The Calm that Killed the Storm, and the release date was moved to September 13, 2005.

A Different Kind of Pain was the beginning of a significant departure from the more radio-friendly alternative metal sound that was featured in the prior two albums.

The majority of A Different Kind of Pain was written in Ward's sister's bedroom while she battled cancer, and is said to have been the root of the subject matter on the album.

[14] Other subjects include the end of his relationship to his fiancée/mother of his daughter, and the physical abuse of a 14-year-old girl by her own father, and also had an alcoholic mother (a theme echoed from each of the three previous albums).

Ward announced that he and Sam McCandless had started a side-project called The Witch, later known as When November Falls and now known as The Killer and the Star.

On July 25, 2008, a blog written by Ward on The Killer and the Star's MySpace confirmed both a b-sides/rarities release and a new Cold album featuring the original line-up, due Fall 2009.

When the page was originally updated, the lineup consisted of Scooter Ward, Sam McCandless, Jeremy Marshall, Kelly Hayes and Terry Balsamo.

Terry Balsamo was briefly replaced by Michael Harris of Idiot Pilot, who also played bass in The Killer and the Star.

[20] On April 28, 2014, the show date & location for the Live DVD were announced - July 12, Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

[21][22][23] On July 12, 2014, the band played and recorded a live concert at University of North Florida Theater of 27 songs in total,[24] including special piano/acoustic performances of "Black Sunday", "Bleed", "Cure My Tragedy" and "Rain Song" and special guest appearances such as Damien Starkey of Burn Season/Puddle of Mudd who performed "Suffocate" with the band onstage and drummer Ethan York who played on "Just Got Wicked".

[28] On March 13, 2015, it was announced that Cold signed the deal with Napalm Records to release a new album and play a worldwide tour in 2016.

[29] According to a post on Cold's Facebook page on July 8, 2016, Terry Balsamo has returned to the band, and that they would begin recording their next album in August 2016.

[30] On January 1, 2017, Nick Coyle (former singer of Lifer, myDownfall and The Drama Club) announced that he joined Cold as their new guitar player.

[43] Prior to the tour, Coyle and Nova left the band on February 14, 2023 to pursue their musical ventures with Death Valley Dreams.

[48] The band would later announce a tour in celebration of both 13 Ways to Bleed on Stage and A Different Kind of Pain from April - June 2025.

[56][58] Their musical influences include The Cure, Depeche Mode, Black Sabbath, Tool, Radiohead, Korn and Deftones.