In Edgar Allan Poe’s classic horror story “The Masque of the Red Death,” a plague sweeps across the land, infecting everything in its path.

Much like the fictional illness after which it is named, New York-based metalcore act The Red Death hopes to infect new fans with its sound through rigorous touring.

Guitarist Joshua Williammee says his band lives for being on the road; time off from touring can often be a nerve-racking experience.

“We love it,” he says. “We were out for a while with Into the Moat and The Acacia Strain and had the best time of our lives. We came home and, after six days, everybody kind of had cabin fever.”

Formed in 2002, The Red Death weathered a variety of lineup changes before signing to Metal Blade Records last year. Williammee said the personnel shifts have made the band stronger in the long run.

“I wouldn’t call it a disadvantage,” he says. “Overall, we keep getting better people in the band.”

Having just finished recording three new songs in addition to remastering its “Aftertaste of the Emaciated” EP for inclusion on its upcoming debut album, Williammee says the band’s writing process for the tracks was very collaborative and will continue with the solidified lineup.

“What usually happens is I, or whatever guitar player we have at the time, write a few riffs on our own and bring them to practice,” Williammee says.

“There’s no mastermind behind our work; we get input from everybody.”

Williammee said the band draws influences from a wide array of heavy music styles, ranging from Swedish death metal to punk, and will oftentimes look to some of its peers in the metalcore genre for inspiration.

“Definitely some of the more metalcore bands, like Unearth and bands of that sort, as well as a lot of straight-up hardcore,” Williammee says.

Vocalist Paul Hamblin says even though you might not be able to tell from listening to the band’s forthcoming album “External Frames of Reference,” it takes an even wider array of music into its sound.

“We all listen to random stuff like jazz fusion and indie rock,” Hamblin says.

Hamblin, who is responsible for writing The Red Death’s lyrics, says he often looks outside the world of music when putting his pen to the paper.

Just as the band’s name is derived from a horror story, Hamblin tends to look to the darker side of the literary realm for lyrical inspiration.

“I get it from a lot of the books I read; different philosophers like Frederich Nietzsche,” he says. “I read Allister Crowley and some of that made it onto the record.”

Williammee says he is excited about the increasingly high profile of the metalcore genre and hopes the growing popularity of new and veteran bands will cause more musically-incompetent groups to fall off of the musical map.

“I think it’s great. It’s good to see bands like Lamb of God finally be recognized for their talent,” Williammee says. “The mainstream has been plagued by talentless, sloppy nu-metal bands for a long time.”

Although the members of The Red Death are far from being rock stars, Williammee says being part of an up-and-coming band on tour is nonetheless a very enviable position.

“This is kind of a dream job for most people,” he says. “We’re not making a lot of money, that’s for sure, but a lot of people dream about being professional musicians and not having to work at some crappy place.”

Who: The Red Death, Accursed Dawn

Where: House of Bricks, 525 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines

When: 5 p.m. Wednesday

Cost: TBA