“We had to face the fact that if we want to develop our music and sound we need a producer who has a vision and whom we can accept as an authority,” commented AMORPHIS guitarist and founding member Esa Holopainen. “I know that we’re not the most flexible guys when it comes to letting outsiders into our camp for telling us how to do things. We spent one evening at our management office, talking about the right producer and the recording sessions in general. As usual, the best decisions are not far to seek. We've been talking to Peter about him producing AMORPHIS for ages. I think the first time we spoke about this was when we met first at the Nuclear Blast festival tour in 1994, and it was in Helsinki around a year ago when we last speculated about the idea. We've been following Peter's career - he's developed as a musician and especially as a producer over the years. Plus he's one of the true survivors from the 90's death metal scene who is still around just like us, so we share kind of an old school mental level.”

The recordings are set to take place in the famous premises of Petrax Studio in Hollola (NIGHTWISH, CHILDREN OF BODOM, KORPIKLAANI) and 5K Studios in Helsinki. Esa explains:

“We’ve decided to record in Finland so that Peter can come here to escape to Petrax in the countryside with us, in order to record all the drums plus some additional lines. Later on, we’ll continue in Helsinki at 5K Studios to lay down the rest of the material. The mixing will be done with Peter in the Swedish Abyss Studios. We’ll keep you posted about how the sessions proceed!”

As far as the new material is concerned, Esa’s elation is contagious:

“Over the last couple of weeks we've had some really intense rehearsing for the forthcoming album. Originally we laid down around 20 new songs as demos, now we are proceeding with 14 tracks. I'm really thrilled about the idea to take a major step away from the so-called routines that we've had with our last records. While promoting The Beginning Of Times we started to feel that we were giving the same explanations over and over again when people asked about the studio process and how the songs came about. Even though the music was very strong, the making process didn’t offer any surprises and appeared to be quite secured. Now the addition of a new dimension to the developing process has inspired us to focus on our material even more. The songs are extremely strong, bombastic and skull-pummelling. Though it’s too early for a statement like this, I’d already love to say that we’ve created the best AMORPHIS album ever. We’ll do our best!”

Well i think they really found the perfect balance of their old death/doom and they're new melodic rock/metal, thats probably why they arent eager to change it up.

I don't hear any doom in their new albums, though some death metal is undeniably there. Still, it would be cool if they shakeup their songwriting a bit, because while their new albums are awesome they are also too similar. It's four albums of the same formula already. Hopefully Peter will help them give the new album some extra spice.

I stopped bothering after Skyforger was, again, more of the same - I found it particularly strange coming from a band so well known for its ever changing nature and diversity of talent.

Magic & Mayhem kinda proved that they could still pull off some doom/death even though it doesn't come close to originals. They should try to bring back folk influences and those beautiful melodies.

"The protagonist has been dealt a bad hand at birth. He’s always felt himself an outsider with strong potential to become marginalized. Through an accident, after a crisis, he finds a connection with his inner powers. A guide is sent to him, from some other time and place. He gets a chance to take hold of his own life and change his destiny. From the past of Carelian Finland he finds his own spiritual tribe and the power to turn the course of his doomed life. This is a story of survival."

AMORPHIS singer Tomi Joutsen adds about the album title: "'Circle' represents integrity. Back in the days, when there was something special to talk about, wise men used to sit in circle. Not everyone was invited to join them. But in this story, the protagonist was invited among the wise men's circle."

Do I sense a touch of doom metal in the song titles and artwork? Should be interesting.

This is precisely what caught my attention. At least aesthetically, the record seem to be aiming for a bleaker and somewhat autumnal direction. Now, while I do like Eclipse and Silent Waters, I also tend to think (like most people here, it seems) that Amorphis has gone a bit too stale with time. This looks like a welcome change, though I of course I still need to hear at least a song to give a more concise opinion.

I should know the answer to this question, but on Elegy did Koivusaari do all the growling vocals and Koskinen do all the clean ones, or did the former do some clean vox and the latter some growling, etc?