Upon A Burning Body

US metal outfit Upon A Burning Body drop their new studio album this August. 'The World is My Enemy Now', is the band again moving onto bigger and better things. With the group currently on the 2014 Mayhem Fest tour in the US, we spoke with vocalist Danny Leal about how things are going in the lead-up.

I've always found you guys have had this 'us vs the world' kind of attitude since day one and is that mindset present on this new record?

The title of this new record isn't necessarily the way that the band feels now. It was intended to be about the places I've been in, the shitty places, the dark times I've gone through. It's the places that I was in as a child and when I was growing up. That's the way that I felt then, that nobody believed in me, that everyone turned their back on me, and growing up without any money and living poorly in shit places with lots of violence and crime. That's what the record was intended to say as it's from the past.

Why the continual use of William Putney for producing your records?

Yeah, this is the third record we've done with him, and it's exciting. It is the best stuff we've ever done, it's the most meaningful album for us and we really believe in this record.

Upon A Burning Body have toured Australia twice before, what was the best part of touring down here?

We just really like getting new fans anywhere we go, so to be in Australia is always a great experience. You guys have a different take on foods and beers and whatnot, but it's about the fans, all the kids who come out to a show. Anywhere we go in the world, the fans are the most important thing.

What was it like covering Florence + The Machine for that Sumerian compilation album, was it strange to cover a genre so different from your own?

Yeah, it was really strange. But we're musicians and we just figured it out. You just make the song heavy, and you start to turn into your own thing like we did.

What's it like with new drummer, Tito Felix, now being a part of the band?

It's cool. He's working out nicely. We actually haven't made any final decisions on whether he's in the band fully yet, but so far it has been good with having him in [the band]. He's just playing live right now, we had Ramon [Villarreal] from the first record come in and track drums for the album as we hadn't found Tito at that time.

Do you guys still associate your band as a deathcore band, or just simply as a metal one?

We just say that we're a metal band from Texas. We're done with all the sub-genres and kiddy shit they tried to slap on us. It's silly! It's heavy, we're from Texas, we were born and raised on metal, and that's what we do. it's just modernised like anything else. Times change, music changes, art changes, and that includes metal. It's just the way it is now, but it's nonetheless still metal. So if anyone ever asks we just tell them that and that's how it is. When everyone made those sub-genres we just said, 'Nah, we're not down for that'. [laughs].

I was hoping that you could maybe shed some light on what happened a few weeks ago with those tweets and posts from you and the band about you missing?

All I will say is that the last time I checked, I was in the entertainment business and I'm just gonna leave it at for now.

Where do you see Upon A Burning Body going next?

Going to bigger venues everywhere, definitely. That's our goal man, and we really believe in this record and that it should put us in bigger venues in front of much bigger crowds.

'The World Is My Enemy Now' is out in Australia on August 15th via Sumerian Records.