Faceless is the third studio album by the hard rock band Godsmack. The album introduced the world to drummer Shannon Larkin, former drummer for Ugly Kid Joe. The album was released on April 8, 2003.

The songs "Straight Out of Line" and "I Stand Alone" had Grammy nominations for 'Best Rock Song' and, 'Best Hard Rock Performance' respectively.

The song "I Fucking Hate You" was used in some of the TV spots for the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl when the movie was coming out in the summer of 2003.

Recording and lyrical themes

The writing and recording process, according to Erna, was a self-contained one in which the band holed up in a rented home in Miami, Florida and wrote without distraction or influence from the rock music scene going on around them.

On the subject of the album, Erna told LAUNCH Media: "It's a bit more musical at times, it's a bit more melodic, but it's still raw," Erna said. "It's still tough. It's still got that Godsmack edge to it, but it's not quite as angry, maybe, as the past stuff has been. But it's still got its rawness...Well, I shouldn't say that. There's a couple of nasty fuckin' songs on this record. But all in all I think it's just really, I think, some well written stuff. I'm really proud of it." Erna found inspiration after reading Rush drummer Neil Peart's book Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road, and penned the new song "Serenity", which Merrill says is similar in motif to the tribal-drum sound of Godsmack's past hit "Voodoo".

Release

Faceless debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 269,000 copies in its first week, and the album would go on to sell over one million copies in the United States. Faceless managed to beat West Coast nu metal rival Linkin Park, with the release of their second studio album Meteora, which dropped to number two on the Billboard 200. Faceless also debuted at number nine on the Top Canadian Albums and at number one on the Top Internet Albums and reminded at the specific chart for two weeks.

The lead single "Straight Out of Line" received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Hard Rock Performance." The award went to Evanescence's single, "Bring Me to Life".

Erna remembered that the band was rehearsing for the tour a few months back when they got the news that the album had debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. "Well, we were in West Palm Beach, Florida rehearsing for this tour and the call came in and it blew my mind because we worked really hard on this record and we wanted people to love it and we wanted it to do well," Erna says. "But we had no idea that it would be the Number One album in the country and it's very gratifying to know that you're rewarded at times for the hard work you do."

Reception

The album generally received mixed reception from critics, scoring 50 ("mixed or average reviews") on Metacritic. Positive reviews came from the Alternative Press who referred to Faceless as "Unflinchingly heavy, this midtempo metal won't disappoint believers." and E! Online who stated it "Rages and riffs with epic drama". Negative reviews focused on the guitar riffs and vocals. Allmusic gave the album two and a half stars out of five, stating that the album "grooves more fluidly than Awake, but the band still hasn't managed to locate the pop hooks that made their debut a success". Entertainment Weekly criticized the "staccato riffing, constipated vocals and generic, rage-against-the-kidney-stone angst." while Rolling Stone called the vocals "almost laughable".