''Circle'' is the eleventh studio album by Finnish heavy metal band

Amorphis Amorphis is a Finnish heavy metal band founded by Jan Rechberger, Tomi Koivusaari, and Esa Holopainen in 1990. Initially, the band was a death metal act, but on later albums they evolved into playing other genres, including progressive metal, ...

, released on 17 April 2013 through

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music E ...

and on 19 April 2013 through

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. Recorded at Petrax Studio in

Hollola Hollola () is a municipality of Finland, located in the western part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality is unilingually Finnish and has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . ...

and at 5K Studios in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, it is the first Amorphis album since ''

Far from the Sun ''Far from the Sun'' is the sixth studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis. It was the first album to feature drummer Jan Rechberger since 1994's '' Tales from the Thousand Lakes'', replacing Pekka Kasari who had quit the band to spe ...

'' (2003) not to be produced by

Marko Hietala Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala (born 14 January 1966) is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Internationally, he is best known as the former bassist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, of the symphonic ...

, or to be based on the Finnish

national epic A national epic is an epic poem or a literary work of epic scope which seeks or is believed to capture and express the essence or spirit of a particular nation—not necessarily a nation state, but at least an ethnic or linguistic group with a ...

Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies an ...

''. Instead, ''Circle'' was produced by

Peter Tägtgren Alf Peter Tägtgren (born 3 June 1970) is a Swedish musician, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is the founder, main songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of death metal band Hypocrisy as well as the industrial metal band Pain i ...

and focuses on an original story penned by lyricist Pekka Kainulainen.

Writing and recording

In August 2012, Amorphis announced that they were going to start recording a new album the following month. ''Circle'' was recorded at Petrax Studio in

and at 5K Studios in

, who had previously worked with

Children of Bodom Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of Alexi Laiho (lead guitar, lead vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka S ...

Celtic Frost Celtic Frost () was a Swiss extreme metal band from Zürich. They are known for their strong influence on the development of extreme metalBukszpan, Daniel. ''The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal''. Barnes & Noble Publishing, 2003. p.43 and avant-gard ...

and

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic ...

, among others, produced and mixed the album. As Tomi Koivusaari observed, the band was initially surprised by the up-front position that Tägtgren gave to the guitars relative to the keyboards. Bassist Niclas Etelävuori used a five-string bass on ''Circle'', which was tuned a whole step down. Regarding the writing and recording process, guitarist

Esa Holopainen Esa Holopainen (born 1 October 1972) is a Finnish musician, currently the main songwriter, occasional lyricist, founding member and lead guitarist of the Finnish metal band Amorphis. He is one out the two longest standing members of the band ( ...

stated: Koivusaari further explained that the band needed to make a change to the recording process to maintain its inspiration. The band chose a "peaceful place" in the countryside to record, which, Koivusaari felt, led to the distinctive atmosphere.

Lyrical concept

Lyrics were once again written by Pekka Kainulainen, who has worked with Amorphis since 2007's '' Silent Waters''. Up to this point all of Kainulainen's lyrics had been based on the Finnish

'', but on ''Circle'' they focus on an original concept. Kainulainen later gave a short summary of the album's concept:

Release and promotion

When Amorphis announced that they would begin recording their eleventh studio album in September 2012, they also announced that it would be released in spring the following year. On 10 September the band released a studio update via

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

. The second and third studio updates were released on 17 and 25 September respectively. The fourth and final studio update was released on 7 March 2013. During a Finnish tour in late 2012, Amorphis performed the song "Shades of Gray", which was tentatively titled "Mehtä". On 16 January 2013, Amorphis revealed the second release date of the album to be 19 April 2013. On 24 January 2013, the band revealed the track listing and cover art for ''Circle''. Besides being available on CD, the album will also be released as a CD/DVD digibook (which includes a "Making of ''Circle''" documentary and a music video for "Nightbird's Song"), a

gatefold LP A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square). The larger gatefo ...

, and as a limited edition box set, containing three bonus track and a wristband. On 14 February, Amorphis announced that they would be performing ''Circle'' in its entirety at a special record-release show, on 25 April at the Circus in Helsinki. On 1 March, Amorphis released the first single from ''Circle'', entitled "Hopeless Days". The lyric video for the song was released the same day. The tracks "Shades of Gray" and "Enchanted by the Moon" were released online on 29 March and 5 April respectively. On 12 April, "The Wanderer" was released as the second single from the album. On 19 April 2013, Amorphis released the official music video for "Hopeless Days". ''Circle'' was released in Europe on 19 April 2013 and reached number one in Finland.

Track listing

Limited edition bonus DVD

* "The Making of 'Circle'" – 1:00:31 * "Nightbird's Song" (video) – 5:10 * "Photo Gallery" – 2:42

Personnel

Amorphis

Tomi Joutsen Tomi Joutsen (born 30 April 1975) is a Finnish musician, perhaps best known as the vocalist/frontman of the heavy metal band Amorphis (2005–), although also a member of other metal bands including Corpse Molester Cult (2008-), as their guitari ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the feature ...

Tomi Koivusaari Tomi Koivusaari (born 11 April 1973) is the current rhythm guitarist and former vocalist of the Finnish metal band Amorphis. He started playing at the age of 12, his first band was Violent Solution formed in 1987, with him on guitars and vocals, ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guita ...

* Niclas Etelävuori –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

* Santeri Kallio – keyboards * Jan Rechberger –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

Other personnel

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, mixing * Tom Bates –

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper (tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ...

Sakari Kukko Sakari Kukko, (full Name: Jyrki Sakari Kukko, born 8 July 1953, Kajaani, Finland) is a Finnish musician. Career Kukko started his career in the early 1960s as a singer participating in several singing contests and performing in radio stations, ...

–

woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and ...

* Mari M –

female vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Tuukka Helminen –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

Jonas Kjellgren Jonas Kjellgren (born 4 July 1977) is a Swedish musician and producer, now residing in Grangärde, Sweden. He has been lead vocalist for Carnal Forge and Dellamorte, played guitar for Centinex, and played bass for October Tide. He is most famou ...

– mastering

Charts

References

External links

Amorphis' official band website
{{Authority control Amorphis albums 2013 albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Peter Tägtgren