"Shimmer" proved to be Fuel's calling card once again, as the kinetic single became a modern rock hit and nearly cracked the Top 40. Additional singles like "Bittersweet," "Jesus or a Gun," and the title track (featured on the Scream 3 soundtrack) also earned airplay, propelling Sunburn to platinum record status. Fuel's second album, Something Like Human, followed two and a half years later and launched the hit "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)," which proved to be the band's biggest single to date. The album itself reached number 17 on the Billboard charts; within a year of its release, it had climbed to double platinum status, making Fuel one of the more successful rock acts of the year.

Released in 2003, Natural Selection sold 71,000 copies in its opening week thanks to the strident lead single "Falls on Me." The album quickly fell from the charts, however, and following the 2005 release of Best of Fuel, frontman Scallions amicably parted ways with the band. Several months later, Fuel's remaining members watched as American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry performed a solid cover of "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" during the show's fifth season. They offered him the position of Scallions' replacement, but Daughtry ultimately turned the gig down, opting to launch a career of his own instead. Undeterred, Fuel enlisted Toryn Green as the band's new singer and began to work on a fourth studio album, Angels & Devils. Meanwhile, ex-Godsmack drummer Tommy Stewart filled in for Kevin Miller during live performances and eventually became a permanent part of the group. Other obligations prevented Stewart from recording during the Angels & Devils sessions, however, and Nine Inch Nails/A Perfect Circle drummer Josh Freese was brought in to temporarily handle percussion duties. Angels & Devils was ultimately released in August 2007.