Backstabbers Inc. returns this week from its first tour in more than two years with new songs for the first time in twice as long.

The tour began with a fast and furious show at Bourbon’s in Portsmouth earlier this month alongside Trailer Sluts, Tiny Whales and The Guts. It ends back on the Seacoast in Dover at Dos Amigos on Thursday, June 27.

The Portsmouth-based band is made up of brothers Matt and Brian Serven, drummer Jonah Livingston and bassist Nick Yeti. It started about 10 years ago as Life Passed On, a side project to another band the Servens were in, called As I Bleed. Singer-guitarist Matt Serven said he wanted to play guitar in a hardcore band with a more direct and stripped-down approach in sound and technique. As I Bleed was a long-winded, melodic metal-influenced band, and Backstabbers was to be a raging, fast-paced outfit with short, blasting songs and a no-frills attitude.

Along with the change of some members, the band has changed some over the years. Since a former vocalist left for the band Take Them, singing and songwriting is now up to the Serven brothers, in addition to playing guitar and composing the music.

Songs have become a little longer and some melody has found its way back into the music, conveying a more personal relationship with the audience.

“We are in need of something a little more than the blind rage and sonic aggression our music afforded us on past recordings,” Matt said in an e-mail from the road. Still, expect the show in Dover to be loud. All band members wear earplugs at practices and shows.

The three-week tour presented a break from writing new material and a chance to start playing it. The band was offered a slot at the Dude Fest music festival in Indiana, but Serven said it didn’t make much sense in terms of dollars and cents to drive there for one show. They booked a tour around it instead. It went as far south as Kentucky and as far west as Illinois.

The response to their music gets better with each tour, Serven said. This one was especially well received because the band hadn’t been on the road in the States since before touring Europe more than two years ago. The group hasn’t released any new material in about five years. Serven said the absence made the band almost like a myth.

On this tour, Serven said he’s heard from people who say they’ve been waiting for years to see the band. They tell him how much the band means to them or that it’s their favorite band. He even sees people with Backstabbers tattoos or people who plan to get one. That kind of appreciation seems to be increasing with each tour, and Serven said it’s always rewarding no matter how frequent.

The band usually accepts the umbrella terms of punk and hardcore, but it’s more than that. The members are influenced by grindcore, crossover thrash, post hardcore, death metal and other forms, so Serven generally calls it “aggressive music.”

The lyrics, though nearly indecipherable when heard live, tend to deal with what Serven calls personal politics. By that, he means the way daily life and politics affect people. Whether it’s government policies, corporations, competitive consumerism, identity, terrorism, societal construction, religion, poverty, war, Hollywood-inspired dumbing down or escapism, the band covers it in a way that pertains to people directly as opposed to an anarchistic “smash the system” message. “This isn’t necessarily about trying to win people over to our way of thinking, but to lead by example, so to speak in a language everyone can understand—personal struggle,” he said.

Serven said he’s not in tune with the hardcore scene now that he’s older (30) and considers his role to be on the other side of the stage. He says the scene changes and varies. “It’s not going anywhere anytime soon, and chances are whatever you are hearing on the radio now or seeing kids wearing on the streets was probably being done by the underground five years ago,” he said. He said it’s hard to say what kind of impact hardcore is having now, but it will always have one.

Life on the road is described as overworked and under-paid, and Serven said those seeking “bright lights, money or babes” should look for a different outlet or style of music. “If you’re passionate about the music and what you’re doing, it keeps it honest and pure,” he said.

He calls being drug- and alcohol-free a natural inclination, a choice he would have made without the straightedge label. He added that being dedicated to any youth-orientated subculture, at this point at least, has nothing to do with his decision not to use. “I just don’t have the desire, never have. Perhaps that will change in the future,” he said, “but when out with people on tour or at a bar, I’ll take a root beer.”

Serven, who’s also been vegan for more than 10 years, said the diet is becoming more common. He said he can usually find a health food store when touring, and if not, one of the many fellow vegans in the underground scene will take care of him.

He and his brother, who grew up in Rochester, are often mistaken for twins, though Matt is two years the senior. They get along as much “as you’d expect siblings to get along within the context of any project,” he said. “We are entirely dedicated to making this childhood fantasy a success, and quite honestly, I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to do it without him.”

The next stage for the band is recording and more writing. They’ve finished writing a transitional follow-up to their last album, “Kamikaze Missions,” tentatively titled “M.I.A.” The seven songs, which should be out this fall, are partly about where the band has been for the past five years or so. The band is also already brainstorming a second new album, now being called “R.i.P.” The Sevens are about halfway into the writing, but the disc may still be a long time coming. Also in the works is an attempt at a world tour including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Eastern Europe, Brazil and maybe Hawaii and Alaska. But first, Serven said, comes the writing.

Despite change, the music has served the same purpose all along, he said. “The primary existence of the band is not necessarily the enjoyment of any one niche audience, but to the creators, the band and the enrichment of the individuals involved,” he said.

Though Serven is considering moving to the Boston area, he said, “Backstabbers Inc. will always remain a New Hampshire band.”

Backstabbers Inc. will play at Dos Amigos Burritos, 286 Central Ave., Dover, at 8 p.m. on Friday, June 27.