According to Shadows Fall frontman Brian Fair, the title of the Massachusetts metal band’s new album, The Art of Balance (Century Media), works on several levels: musical, personal, and philosophical. "It was a phrase that was in my head before we started recording. I knew it was gonna be the title of the album. It’s something everyone’s striving for, to find that balance — not just fully diving into depression or always raging. And I think it really sums up what we’re all about, both musically and personally. How we have the brutal parts right in the acoustic parts, and the fact that there’s death-metal vocals singing positive lyrics. And how our music is pretty serious, but we also like to drink beer and have a good time."

Fair is on the highway leaving New Orleans, "slowly recovering" from the second date of a three-week tour with Hatebreed, Six Feet Under, and Death Threat. (Shadows Fall take a break from the tour to play a headlining show this Saturday at the Middle East.) Following the release of their Century Media debut in 2000, Of One Blood, the band hit the road for a year straight, touring with everyone from King Diamond to Kittie. Along the way, they built up a worldwide following that drew equally from the metal and the hardcore scenes, and the album became an underground hit. These days, they’re flirting with the mainstream: over the summer, they were featured in a short MTV News segment with VJ Iann Robinson.

"Iann has been a fan for a little while," explains Fair of the band’s good fortune. "The first thing he did to support us was wearing our shirt on TV. It’s funny, a VJ wearing our shirt on MTV probably got us more attention than touring for however long. He approached us at South by Southwest, and he was like, ‘We’re gonna film it, and I’m gonna submit it. I’m not sure if they’re gonna take it or not, but I’m definitely gonna push the issue.’ So we did it, and he got them to sneak it by. It was really awesome. It definitely gave the old record a little kick in the ass, and it also got people ready for the new record."

The Art of Balance brings Shadows Fall one step closer to the Master of Puppets ideal: beauty and savagery jockey for position throughout. The band’s songwriting is more focused than ever, and the album is more cohesive than Of One Blood. They recorded it with long-time producer Zeuss at his studio in Western Massachusetts, where founding members Matthew Bachand (guitar), Jonathan Donais (guitar), and Paul Romanko (bass) are based. It’s the first Shadows Fall album that Fair, who left his mark on the mid-’90s Boston hardcore scene with Overcast, was involved in from the start. And with the recent addition of drummer Jason Bittner, formerly of the upstate New York hardcore group Stigmata, the band’s line-up is more stable than it’s ever been.

"We all had a definitive idea of what we wanted to accomplish," says Fair. "We wanted to try a few different styles. We didn’t hold back — if we were into what we were writing, it stayed. We didn’t worry about, ‘Is this gonna be too hardcore or too death metal?’ It was definitely the easiest time we’ve ever had in the studio."

The band recently shot their first-ever video for "Thoughts Without Words," the disc’s ferocious first single. Guitars squeal left and right, driving rock beats suddenly burst into mosh mode, and Fair finds lyrical inspiration in one of his long-time passions. "I got into yoga when I was going to Boston University. My girlfriend at the time was a yoga instructor, and I was also studying a lot of Buddhist thought and Hindu mythology. It’s something that’s always been a part of my general thoughts on the world, because you can apply it to everything you do. What initially got me into yoga was skateboarding, where I kinda felt the same connection. I had to be completely in trance with what I was doing or I was gonna hurt myself."

He gets even more personal on "Stepping Outside the Circle," which might be the catchiest tune on the album. "It’s a song about a problem I had in relationships. I was in long-distance relationships forever, and as soon as the idea of moving to the same area would come up, I would backpedal. I’ve finally gotten over it. My parents were having relationship troubles for a while, and that was a phrase in one of those marriage-counseling pamphlets: ‘You need to be within the circle, you can’t be stepping outside the circle.’ That just stuck in my head."

Yoga and marriage counseling are not topics you find in your average metal song — but Fair neither looks nor sounds like your average metal frontman, as his waist-long dreadlocks and terrifying growl attest. He puts his money where his mouth (okay, hair) is on "A Fire in Babylon," an apocalyptic epic that crosses Iron Maiden with Haile Selassie. "It’s a fire-and-brimstone Rasta rant. I’ve always listened to tons of reggae and been really into that whole culture. I felt that song was epic enough to tackle the battle of good and evil. If you’re gonna have the eight-minute metal epic, you better have some pretty epic lyrics." His vocals are at their bloodcurdling finest on the song, and Bachand and Donais finish things off with an appropriately heated guitar exchange.

The biggest departure on The Art of Balance is the title track, an introspective power ballad that brings the band’s penchant for placid guitar melodies to the forefront. The pretty stuff has always been part of the group’s appeal, but Fair says he anticipates "a little bit of a backlash from some of the more death-metal kids" over the song. And if that means their latest balancing act is between the underground and the mainstream, Shadows Fall are ready to face the challenge. "We just wanna expose our music to as many people as possible," Fair concludes. "I don’t hear anything like what we’re doing on the radio. If we’re selling out, then somebody pay me — because I still have no money, and I’m in a shitty van with five dudes who stink."

BOSTON METALCORE DUDES UNEARTH made a name for themselves on the national all-ages scene with last year’s The Stings of Conscience (Eulogy), a blistering debut album that juxtaposed elegant Eurometal guitar harmonies with violent mosh breakdowns. The disc was a hit on college radio, and the band spent part of the summer on tour with Shadows Fall, with whom they share a taste for uplifting lyrical themes. Unearth are also kindred spirits with fellow local upstarts Diecast: both bands favor a relentless hardcore pulse that recalls Pantera more than Metallica.

So it’s no surprise that the new Unearth EP, Endless (Eulogy), is a barrage of righteous aggression that doesn’t skimp on fancy guitar hooks. The band waste no time getting to the good stuff on the title track, which explodes into a vicious breakdown at the first chorus and hops into a feisty Maiden interlude soon thereafter. The other two new songs head into more dissonant territory, and a demo version of the previously released "My Desire" is as bleak as it is crushing. Their formula may not be entirely original, but these guys are on to something.

The Hope Conspiracy come at Massachusetts metalcore from the punk end of the spectrum: along with local stalwarts Converge and Bane, they record for the long-running upstate New York label Equal Vision, and there’s more Minor Threat than Maiden in their riffs. But I count at least one Slayer-style lead-guitar blitz on their new Endnote, and there’s enough low-end thud on the disc to compete for heaviness with any New England band this side of Hatebreed. Since the 2000 release of their punishing Equal Vision debut, Coldblue, the Hope Conspiracy have endured the usual parade of line-up changes associated with DIY punk — perhaps it’s by design that the names of the current band members are absent from the packaging of the new album. But that hasn’t stopped the group from touring frequently, or from making a giant leap forward on Endnote.

Recorded in New York City with producer Dean Baltulonis (Madball), the disc retains the overdriven heft of its predecessor. But the arrangements are more challenging, and the mood is confrontational where it used to be brooding. The fierce minimalism of "Fallen" gives way to the frantic punk shout-along "Violent and Gray," on which frontman Kevin Baker leads a chorus of downtrodden souls: "Tonight, tonight/We’re ready to die!" An eerie processed guitar sound spins its way between tracks, and Baker attacks everything from religious extremism to romantic disillusionment with unmitigated bile. "Distant" is a mosh-worthy instrumental workout that’s almost funky, and the sicko screed "Deadman" could be a Germs song if not for the aforementioned Slayer solo. Like all good metal and hardcore albums, Endnote turns frustration into celebration, and the tension between the two never slackens. It should hold up as one of the best hardcore discs of the year.

Shadows Fall perform this Saturday, September 21, at the Middle East in Central Square; call (617) 864-EAST. Unearth perform next Sunday, September 29, at the Fat Cat in Springfield; call (413) 734-0554. The Hope Conspiracy open for Cro-Mags NYC next Saturday, September 28, at the Pond in Cambridge; call (617) 661-8828.