Recording sessions for the album began in July 2001, with Tremonti taking on bass guitar duties in Marshall's absence, and would last four months to complete.

Scott Stapp says the reason for this was that he wanted the band to "live life and have experiences" before he and guitarist Mark Tremonti began writing new songs.

Stapp and Tremonti also vowed not to listen to any music at all between the end of the Human Clay tour and the start of writing sessions for Weathered.

"[6] In response to the terrorist attacks, touring bassist Brett Hestla, along with his band who were known simply as Virgos during this period, wrote a tribute song to those affected and involved in the massacre called "Brother Of Mine", which they included on their only album "The Path of Least Resistance".

[5] The album opens with "Bullets", an anthemic and forceful heavy metal track that features some of Tremonti's fastest and most aggressive guitar work for Creed.

In between the first and second verse of the song, a muffled voice can be heard reciting the lyrics from the bridge section of "Wash Away Those Years", from the Human Clay album.

""[6][11] The band continues to explore dark themes on track five of the album with their hit single "One Last Breath", a song which Mark Tremonti cites as one of his favourite guitar lines and musical compositions for Creed.

Lyrically, the song explores Stapp's own personal struggles with battling substance abuse, addiction and alcoholism and him coming to terms with his inability to stay sober despite his best efforts.

"Weathered", the album's title track and final single, was written by Stapp about his feelings of sadness, bleakness and the pressures that came with living the rock star lifestyle while simultaneous having to conceal his rapidly deteriorating and unraveling mental state at the time from those around him.

The title and the lyrics on that record absolutely relate to that - "I'm rusted and weathered, barely holding together, I'm covered with skin that peels and it just won't heal" - that was me sharing my heart and soul.

"Don't Stop Dancing", the album's fourth single, is a power ballad where Stapp lyrically expresses feelings of invisibility and insignificance in the world.

The front cover depicts an unknown man in the foreground holding a hammer and chisel while carving the faces of Stapp, Tremonti, and Philips into the wood of a heavily mossed tree.

Some versions of the cover have Tremonti's head carved facing to the right, with the wordmark now centred and slightly larger, in solid white, and the album title, also enlarged, at the bottom with a black drop shadow.

Soon after the release of the album in late 2001, banner ads and mysterious posts began appearing on Creed fan sites, which redirected users to a website called creedquest.com.

Players with the most points were then eligible for weekly prizes and one grand-prize — a trip to Universal Studios Orlando for lunch with the band, among other activities.

[18][19] To promote the album, the band made numerous television appearances, including a spot as musical guests on the November 17, 2001, episode of Saturday Night Live where they played "Bullets" and "My Sacrifice".

[29] Weathered finished number 2 on the 2002 US Billboard 200 year-end chart, and was eventually certified 6× platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 6 million units sold in just the US alone on January 6, 2003.

"Hide" was released as an International single in the form of an EP with the album versions of "Bullets" and "Unforgiven", reaching number 65 in Australia.

A two-disc version of Weathered was released and contained a VCD with three music videos made for Creed's second studio album Human Clay.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote in his 2 out of 5 star review that: "Their hearts are in the right place -- let it never be said that they're only in this for the money or the fame; they even advertise Stapp's With Arms Wide Open Foundation charity in the liner notes -- but the earnestness in their approach is magnified by their resolutely unimaginative neo-grunge."

She notes that although the album's lack of levity begins to take its toll over the course of the record, Weathered is still worth listening to "for those who want a dose of spirituality with their nu metal.

He asserts that the title track is the band's "most compact performance of the trio to date", as well as praising some of the calmer moments on the album including "Who's Got My Back".

[35] The Weathered tour kicked off on January 16, 2002, with an hour special VH1 "Opening Night Live" performance in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Philips Arena.

The program also featured interviews by radio and television personality Aamer Haleem with Stapp, Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips in Florida.

[38] After a successful opening night, the tour quickly hit its first snag just two weeks later when on January 30, Mark Tremonti's mother passed away, forcing the band to reschedule their February 1 performance in East Rutherford, New Jersey at the Continental Airlines Arena.

[41][23] The band returned to the US and had originally planned to do more shows in April, followed by a European tour in May and June, and then a full-scale North American run from July until the fall.

During the fall portion of their tour, the band hit yet another bump in the road when Stapp was diagnosed with acute laryngitis due to the swelling of his vocal cords.

Creed was forced to postpone nine dates at the beginning of their fall tour and almost had to pull out of a live performance at Alcatraz Island off of the San Francisco coast on October 10.

Before the show, Stapp was given a shot of anti-inflammatory medication Decadron, to temporarily ease the swelling of his vocal cords, and the set had to be shortened then what was originally planned.

The audience began to heavily boo Stapp as he proceeded to leave the stage, only to return ten minutes later and miss all of his cues, causing the rest of the band to improvise by playing a number of unplanned solos.