The Height of Callousness is the second studio album by American metal band Spineshank, released on October 9, 2000, through Roadrunner Records.

It was produced by Garth "GGGarth" Richardson alongside Spineshank guitarist Mike Sarkisyan and drummer Tommy Decker, and it was recorded at Mushroom Studios in Vancouver, Canada.

In 1998, Spineshank released their debut album Strictly Diesel, which despite receiving endorsements from Fear Factory—especially from their guitarist Dino Cazares—was a critical and commercial disappointment.

Furthermore, the album's stylistic similarities with the works of Korn, Fear Factory, Deftones and Sepultura—whom Spineshank cited as musical influences—led to the band being dismissed as impersonators.

[6][5][7] The band worked on new material for a year at their rehearsal space in Vernon, California, close to their home city Los Angeles.

[1] While writing for the album, the members of Spineshank went through several negative experiences in their personal lives; Decker almost lost his son in a "horrific court battle", whilst Santos was stabbed at a party and his mother died of cancer.

[10][12] The Height of Callousness was recorded at Mushroom Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, with producer Garth "GGGarth" Richardson.

Amir Derakh, who co-produced, engineered and mixed Strictly Diesel, handled the album's pre-production and arranged a string section.

[11] Spineshank spent the first three days at the studio talking "intensely" with Richardson about "how we wanted to move things up a dozen levels and start expressing who we are", according to Santos.

[12] The band also told Richardson they wanted the new album to sound "raw and in your face", akin to his work with Rage Against the Machine and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

[16] Richardson pushed hard to draw out the band's emotions in their performances; according to drummer Tommy Decker: "If GGGarth thinks something sucks, he'll tell you.

"appears to be a polite way of saying that [Decker and Sarkisyan] were professional trainspotters in the control booth, making minute sonic changes that both [of them] admit no one in their right minds would ever care about".

[1] After recording was completed Scott Humphrey and Frank Gryner mixed the album at the Chop Shop in Los Angeles in May 2000.

"[8] In the August 2000 issue of Metal Hammer, Spineshank announced they had completed The Height of Callousness and exclusively revealed the album's track listing to the magazine.

[13][37] Spineshank was also promoted through appearances on MTV's compilation The Return of the Rock Volume 2, which was released in November 2000;[38] on the soundtrack album for the 2001 film 3000 Miles to Graceland;[39][40] and in the video games Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder (2001),[41] MX Superfly (2002)[42] and Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This at Home (2003).

[35] On July 25, 2001, Roadrunner re-released The Height of Callousness in Europe as a "Collectors Digipak Edition" that includes four bonus tracks, and enhanced CD music videos of "Synthetic" and "New Disease" in an attempt to "combat expensive US imports" of the album.

[54] On July 22, 2013, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the album silver, signifying the sale of 60,000 copies in the UK.

[55] "Synthetic" was issued as the lead single from The Height of Callousness on September 26, 2000, receiving moderate radio airplay and rotation on MTV.

[58] "New Disease" experienced significant radio success, reaching number 33 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart on April 21, 2001.

[4][32] Others, however, were more critical; Catherine Yates of Terrorizer commented the album's tracks, except "New Disease" and "Cyanide 2600", "fail to provide true neck-snapping euphoria".

[33] Blabbermouth.net said the "harsh edge" of its guitars is at odds with the accessibility of its material but that this is "a relatively minor flaw that should have no bearing on [Spineshank]'s ability to make a significant commercial impact".