Faceless World
Faceless World is the third studio album by German heavy metal band U.D.O., released on 25 February 1990 via RCA Records. It was recorded in Dierks Studios in Cologne and mastered in Hamburg. The album's musical style features a more light approach than previous and future albums, and achieved great success. Previous guitarist Andy Susemihl had left the band, but takes writing credits for "System of Life", "Living on a Frontline" and "Future Land". Guitarist Wolla Böhm was added, but is only credited and pictured in the album as a member, although he does perform with the band in the "Heart of Gold" music video. All guitar work was done by Mathias Dieth.
| Faceless World | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 25 February 1990 | |||
| Recorded | October 1989–January 1990 | |||
| Studio | Dierks Studios, Cologne, Germany | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 53:25 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Producer | Stefan Kaufmann | |||
| U.D.O. chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 8/10[2] |
| Rock Hard | 8.0/10[3] |
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Udo Dirkschneider and Stefan Kaufmann; all music is composed by Dirkschneider, Kaufmann and Mathias Dieth, except where noted
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Heart of Gold" | 5:00 | |
| 2. | "Blitz of Lightning" | 4:23 | |
| 3. | "System of Life" | Dirkschneider, Kaufmann, Dieth, Andy Susemihl | 4:12 |
| 4. | "Faceless World" | 6:31 | |
| 5. | "Stranger" | 5:15 | |
| 6. | "Restricted Area" | 3:09 | |
| 7. | "Living on a Frontline" | Dirkschneider, Kaufmann, Dieth, Susemihl | 4:19 |
| 8. | "Trip to Nowhere" | 3:22 | |
| 9. | "Born to Run" | 3:26 | |
| 10. | "Can't Get Enough" | 3:22 | |
| 11. | "Unspoken Words" | 5:13 | |
| 12. | "Future Land" | Dirkschneider, Kaufmann, Dieth, Susemihl | 5:13 |
| Total length: | 53:25 | ||
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Living on a Frontline" (live, taken from Live from Russia) | 11:47 |
| 14. | "Heart of Gold" (live, taken from Live from Russia) | 4:57 |
| 15. | "Heart of Gold" (Video) | |
| Total length: | 70:08 | |
Personnel
- Udo Dirkschneider – vocals
- Mathias Dieth – guitars, backing vocals
- Thomas Smuszynski – bass
- Stefan Schwarzmann – drums
- Production
- Stefan Kaufmann – production, mixing
- Uli Baronowsky – engineer, mixing
- Ananda Kurt Pilz – cover art
- Wolfgang Burat – photography
- Tim Eckhorst – design (anniversary edition)
Charts
| Chart (1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[4] | 52 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[5] | 37 |
References
- Henderson, Alex. "U.D.O. - Faceless World review". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
- Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 465. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
- Albrecht, Frank (1990). "Review Album : U.D.O. - Faceless World". Rock Hard (in German). No. 37. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
- "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
- "Swedishcharts.com – U.D.O. – Faceless World". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 January 2017.