CD | 2LP Black

At the peak of the second decade of their musical journey, Finnish melancholic dark rock/metal masters AMORPHIS give birth to their eleventh mind-child named “Circle”. The total of nine tracks that are contained on “Circle” once more prove the musicians’ ability to intertwine new and established ingredients. “To put it in a few words, it’s compact, brilliant, fresh and still has all the elements you expect from AMORPHIS”, as guitarist Esa Holopainen points out. Lyricist Pekka Kainulainen, who has also worked for the band on previous albums, tells the story of an unfortunate man, who is invited to a circle and receives strength from the old Finnish gods. As the plot is set completely between dusk and dawn, “Circle” gains a dark yet yearning atmosphere. Produced by Swedish all-rounder Peter Tägtgren (HYPOCRISY, PAIN), AMORPHIS went to the Finnish countryside at Petrax Studio to work on “Circle”. “As he is a guitarist he understood the point that string instruments needs to be heard” Esa says about Peter. “What I’m mostly happy about is that on this album you can really hear the guitars and bottom end bass.” The cover artwork is done by British artist Tom Bates who seems to share a common love for Alphonse Mucha with Esa Holopainen. Founded 1990 in Helsinki, AMORPHIS have become a globally successful act. Tomi Koivusaari (guitarist and original vocalist), Esa Holopainen (guitars), Olli-Pekka Laine (bass), and Jan Rechberger (drums) started under the flag of traditional heavy, death and doom metal put out on the debut “The Karelian Isthmus”. Their soon more melodic orientation set the course for the highly acclaimed 1994 “Tales From The Thousand Lakes”. With this genre-leading output the Finns toured Europe and the US. The addition of new vocalist Pasi Koskinen let AMORPHIS to new grounds, adding keys and psychedelic elements to their sound, which are gathered on album number three, "Elegy" (1996). It was not until late 2004 that yet another vocalist - Tomi Joutsen (SINISTHRA) - joined the Finnish sound collective. “Silent Water” (2007) and “Skyforger” (2009) saw the band charting their native Finland and doing extended touring. Whereas the most recent studio album “The Beginning Of Times” was the first ever to enter the German Top 20. After several line-up changes and releases AMORPHIS are now stronger than ever.