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 Hollola, Finland, and at 5K Studios in Helsinki, Finland. Peter Tägtgren, who had previously worked with Children of Bodom, Celtic Frost and Dimmu Borgir, 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 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 national epic Kalevala, 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. 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, a gatefold LP, and as a limited editionbox 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 Aprilat 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.
