Looking back, guitarist Phil Sgrosso sees last year’s An Ocean Between Us as the record where As I Lay Dying made major changes in the way it does business. Shaking things up is something the San Diego–based metalcore unit has gotten used to over its eight-year run. During that time, members have come and gone; Sgrosso enlisted in the middle of the decade, joining fellow new recruits Nick Hipa (guitar) and since-departed bassist Clint Norris. The first project he worked on after joining AILD founders Tim Lambesis (vocals) and Jordan Mancino (drums) was 2005’s Shadows Are Security. Although that album debuted in the Billboard Top 40, the group decided it wanted something more with An Ocean Between Us.

“The writing process for Shadows was definitely shorter, and it was Tim and I writing the whole thing,” Sgrosso says, on the line from his home. “For this record, we’d all matured as musicians. Having matured, plus having more time to write, plus jamming things out more often—as opposed to Tim and I writing with a drum machine—changed things for this record. It’s a total 180 as far as how the writing process went. We took the time to get in-depth with the songs.”

The resulting record helped elevate As I Lay Dying out of a metalcore ghetto that’s reached saturation level. Sgrosso and his bandmates still sound as pissed as anyone signed to Victory Records, but this time out they’ve targeted more than the extreme-rage-disorder set. The increasing use of clean vocals aside, what’s most immediately noticeable is the way that the 12 red-lined tracks are loaded with the kind of guitar textures that used to get people excited about Radiohead. Tsunamis of white noise roar out of nowhere in the title track, while “Nothing Left” counterbalances Pantera-strength riffage with what sounds like a metal-maniac version of the harpsichord. Use your imagination, and you can almost envision the sheets-of-distortion closer “This Is Who We Are” working on a mix tape with Muse and Sigur Rós.

Thanks to the band’s gift for balancing unbridled aggression with superior musicianship, As I Lay Dying is just as comfortable playing for the bangers at Ozzfest as the Hot Topic shoppers at the Warped Tour. That the AILD easily straddles those two worlds is no surprise to Sgrosso. Before discovering Living Sacrifice and In Flames in his mid teens, he was obsessed with SoCal punk, including hometown heroes Blink-182.

“I’m from San Diego, and when I was in middle school you had to love Blink-182,” Sgrosso says. “And I’m not afraid to admit that—everyone did at the time. I loved them for things like simple riffs and Travis Barker’s drumming.”

Interestingly, the guitarist lost interest in Blink once they began to move beyond three-chord pop punk. Just as Sgrosso was unwilling to grow with one of his favourite bands, he acknowledges that As I Lay Dying has tested the loyalty of its long-time disciples. To his credit, he doesn’t pretend that everyone loves the way the group has changed.

“There are definitely people who’ll come up to me and say ‘Frail Words Collapse is my favourite record,’ ” Sgrosso says. “I’m like, ‘That’s sweet—I’m not on it.’ ”

As I Lay Dying plays the Croatian Cultural Centre on Tuesday (April 29).