As much as I love almost everything Amorphis and as much as I like the albums from the Tomi Joutsen era – some more, some less – it is fair to note that recently the band created the impression that they chose the line of least resistance and don't plan on straying away from it. And there were times when Amorphis were not afraid to experiment and were cherished as one of the most innovative metal bands.

The previous album, “The Beginning of Times”, was very nice, but after the brilliant “Skyforger”, was somewhat of a disappointment. Mildly worried, I was asking myself how many similar albums can they churn out and what were they going to do when they ran out of “Kalevala” stories, considering that it is not such a thick book anyway.

The news that this time they invited an external producer – Peter Tägtgren no less – gave solid grounds for hope that there will be some changes. The news that the lyrics' author Pekka Kainulainen did not draw inspiration from “Kalevala”, but came up with a story about a lost and confused  guy who met the wise men and they put him on the right path, was the second signal for change. Not that the story is all that impressive - it is actually rather old and tired – but it actually doesn't matter, because “Circle” is not a conceptual album, no matter what they tell you.

The first single “Hopeless Days”, which came out some time in March and was widely played on the radio stations, was not the usual poppy song Amorphis release for the masses and the   housewives. Compared to the syrupy “Silver Bride” and “You I Need”, this sounded quite promising. Clearly audible in the intro was the touch of the talented Mr. Tägtgren and it was only logical that expectations rose another notch or two. We were even willing to ignore the last 15 seconds, which sounded like Nightwish. The only problem was that the vocals sounded a bit thin, especially considering the fact that Tomi Joutsen is one very talented singer. It seems that Marco Hietala, who produced the vocals on all previous albums with him, will be sorely missed.

The next track we heard was the opening song from the album - “Shades of Grey”. It, thank gods, has nothing to do with the porn novel of a similar name, but makes “Circle” the Amorphis album with the most brutal opening since “Silent Waters”. Excluding the clean chorus and the typical folk elements, Tomi Joutsen snarls and growls, sounding almost black metal at times. YouTube videos from the brief winter tour in their native Finland suggest that it is a killer live track. 

“Enchanted By the Moon”, also released on YouTube as a lyrics video, starts very promising – with a blood curdling scream, barked verses and, yes, of course, clean chorus. Nothing wrong with that, but it's terribly predictable. Even the lines  „Somebody broke my bones, somebody tore my flesh, somebody broke my bones, somebody crushed my chest“ don't sound very convincing. In the end of the song there is a minute and a half of pretty pointless guitar, keyboard and screams.

Just as I was asking myself if Nuclear Blast were planning to release the entire album by the piecemeal before it's official release date, some of the Finnish radio stations played “The Wanderer”. Some people said it was nice, some said it reminded them of a To/Die/For song and I say it's just boring. I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes the second radio single. It's a harmless pleasant song, which will appeal to the masses, who had never heard masterpieces such as “Sign From the North Side”, “Sons of Uisliu” and “Elegy”. It's not a bad song, it's just a bit too much.

Actually, the problem is in the two ballads (conditionally speaking) one after another in the beginning of the album – songs 2 and 3. This song order can put you to sleep, especially if  were expecting more livelier stuff with heavy riffs and growls. There is no logical explanation to this track order. - It certainly doesn't follow the story development of a conceptual album - five of the songs are scattered in assorted bonus editions and there is no story line that we can speak of.

“The Wanderer” is preceded by the fantastic “Mission”. - Like most songs in the album it also starts it a longish intro, which misleads the listener. After 30 seconds of subdued piano and bass, however, Esa Holopainen's sublime guitar explodes into one of the best songs on “Circle”. Unlike on previous albums, he doesn't use so much of his signature delays, but in “Mission” they are clearly audible and it could have easily been on the masterpiece album “Skyforger”.

“Narrow Path” starts off with e playful folk flute, then it blends into a Celtic melody and is more or less the typical pleasant Amorphis song, though Irish melodies are not exactly their specialty. The song has one too many choruses and at the same time lacks something – more of the wonderful guitar solo in the third minute, perhaps.

The most intriguing Amorphis song in the past several years - “Nightbird's Song” - starts off with yet another of those misleading intros, which could bring someone expecting heavier stuff to tears of utter desperation. The surprise comes with a tearing growl, double bass drums and black metal snarling with elements of razorblades. The part before the chorus has clean vocals, but in the chorus itself Tomi Joutsen growls and howls as if his life depended on it. Sakari Kukko's flute, who last worked with Amorphis in “Am Universum”, brings in some tenderness, but, as Esa Holopainen put it, this is black metal.

Open the windows wide, turn up the volume and greet the neighbours!

It would have been really wonderful, if “Circle” contained at least one more song by Tomi Koivusaari, who has the indisputable talent of creating rare gems.

“Into the Abyss” starts with an irregular meter, which reminds us, the Bulgarians, of our folklore dances. The song, however strange it may be due to the title, is somehow filled with light and calm, especially compared to the excitement of the previous track. The guitar solo sounds like something from the 1980's, but there's nothing wrong with that. An ideal song for lying in a field of flowers.

The clam ends abruptly with the guttural roar of the already mentioned “Enchanted By the Moon”, just to be reinstated with the closing “A New Day”, which is again filled with optimism and joy of life. If it weren't for the second part of the song, in which Sakari Kukko brings back the magic atmosphere of “Tuonela”, I would have written it off as yet another extremely boring song.

As a whole, “Circle” is a very good album, but those who expected some big changes and radical developments (or a return to the style from 20 years ago), will be disappointed.

As with most Amorphis albums, “Circle” also needs more spins to be fully grasped. But, on the other hand, is yet another quite predictable album. It is more than obvious that Amorphis have found the winning formula and have no intentions whatsoever to leave their comfort zone. Nothing wrong with that, but it could have been better.

Which leads me to the bonus editions. Generally, the release of a digipak version with an additional song and a Japanese bonus version is nothing unusual. But five bonus songs, scattered across a number of editions is rather weird, especially having in mind that the “official” album contains only nine songs – the least in any Amorphis album. The simple arithmetic shows that Amorphis don't consider a third of the songs they wrote and recorded as good enough for the album. As a matter of fact, there are at least two worthy of the “official” release, and the rest are pretty good, too. Including the one that so strongly reminds of Hypocrisy.

It may be cynical, but the logical explanation for this idiotic situation is that Nuclear Blast god greedy and decided to release a third of the album in various bonus editions and regionally limited streaming services and the Japanese iTunes, from which, naturally, the rest of the world cannot buy anything, no matter how much they want to. Besides, sooner or later those bonus tracks will turn up on the Internet, and for free.