"The overall idea," Vic Fuentes says, "is of people jumping off of ground that is breaking up beneath them." He's on the phone from his home near Mission Bay, talking about the cover art for Pierce the Veil's next album. "I've seen images of people jumping," he says, "and their faces look serene, even calm. You're not sure if they are flying, or jumping. Even if it's to their death, there's almost a feeling of hope."

Fuentes describes the cover image for Collide with the Sky as a metaphor for "jumping away from things that are breaking down." In the image a woman floats upward from the wreckage of a house. Otherwise, the new music is an exquisitely produced assemblage of the intense mosh pit rock that Alternative Press included in their rundown of the Most Anticipated Music of 2012.

Call it Mexi-core. That's what Fuentes called his band once. “It’s basically a mix of heavy music with a little Spanish feel.”

But the record also marks a step in the maturation of Fuentes as a lyric writer. "I've been dealing a lot with people that are close to me over the last year." An example? "I have an ex girlfriend who is going through treatments for breast cancer. I wrote "Match Into Water" for her. "

Consider that not so long ago Fuentes and his brother Mike were students at Mission Bay high school. They had a band they named after grocery store rotgut and they wrote punk raves like "5.9," their tribute to Natty Ice beer. Equal Vision Records liked what they heard and signed the Fuentes Brothers and changed the band's name from Early Times to Before Today; they released A Celebration of an Ending but the only thing that ended was Before Today. After, the Fuentes brothers started Pierce the Veil with Tony Perry and Jaime Preciado. They ended their seven-year run with Equal Vision and signed with Fearless Records in 2011.

Fuentes says the bulk of the new record was created on the road and was recorded over three long weeks in New Jersey with producers Dan Korneff and Kato Khandwala. "But we did demo some of the new material in Mission Bay." The Fuentes' brothers' parents built a recording studio in the family home years ago.

"I spent a month or two at home, writing lyrics there as well. When I'm writing, I separate from everyone. Even my band. I push myself, and I'm alone with my thoughts. Separating from friends and comforts and family lets you think a lot deeper about subject matter. Working alone drives me a little crazy," he says, "but it makes the writing as honest as possible."

Pierce the Veil: Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, June 27, with the Van's Warped Tour