I got the latest issue of Finnish magazine Soundi today and there was an Amorphis intie. Some details:
-Although the lyrics of Circle aren't based on Kalevala, there are some little lyrical references to the previous few albums
-The story of the album has a positive ending (
omg datz so unmetal!!!!111!1)
-No preproduction was done with Tägtgren. He also wanted to make the album sound organic and paid a lot of attention to keyboards
-Lots of guitar tracks were recorded and Niclas played a lot of songs on a 5-string, so there's more low end than before
-The Wanderer, Enchanted by the Moon and Nightbird's Song are some of the heaviest Amorphis songs ever, the latter even having some black metal elements according to Esa - he also thought it was Tägtgren growling in the chorus at first
-Santeri was against the idea of naming Mehtä as Shades of Gray due to the similarity to Fifty Shades of Grey
-Esa praises Santeri's solo in Into the Abyss, and Tomi J. gives Esa props for the Floydish leads in the same song
-Narrow Path is a Thin Lizzy-influenced folky tune
-Some guest musicians appear on the album, like singer Mari Multanen, cellist Tuukka Helminen and Sakari Kukko plays saxophone and flute once again
-Esa says they're interested in touring the US again, but they would probably focus on the bigger cities
-Amorphis will get their own brand of chili sauce! It's called Hopeless Bourbon Sauce and there's the cover art of Hopeless Days single in the bottle