Circle reviews

I might be one of the only people that thought of TBOT to be a huge disappointment, so I was afraid of the next one as well, but I have a lot of hope after what we have heard already and the reviews seem to be very positive too.
 
8/10 for Circle in the latest Sue magazine (in Finnish). The reviewer says it's a worthy successor for what's come out earlier and it's a very consistent effort, but he would've liked a bit more progressive approach at times.
 
Blizk said:
Based on samples, there's a pre-chorus section in "Nightbird's Song" that's sung clean, but not the chorus like that review claims.
Click to expand...
I'd agree to call the clean part a pre-chorus and the same chord progression three half-steps higher ("Arise the silent warriors...") the chorus. But never mind the structural analysis, as long as there's some kick-ass vocals somewhere in the song, I'm happy. I just hope the next album will have more of them again.
 
A few reviews here that give the album 4 out of 5, 3 out of 5 and 6.5 out of 10. Not great ratings, but I don't take these too seriously. Looking forward to putting some headphones on April 19th and listening several times before I even begin to form an opinion about the album. Still very excited to hear it (with Deadman's Dream as the bonus track) from beginning to end! I have already concluded that this song is way too good to be a 'bonus' track.

In a few reviews I have seen opinions that Nightbird's Song and Enchanted By The Moon are just average songs. From what I have heard so far, I strongly disagree, think these 2 tracks will be amongst my favorites.

http://www.angrymetalguy.com/amorphis-circle-review/

http://www.metalblast.net/music-review/amorphis-circle/

http://michaelnobrien.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/amorphis-circle/

BTW...nice to see all of you here:wave:! After the old forum shut down I didn't even think about looking for a new one, but I've noticed that most of you from the old site have made it to this one.
 
Nightbird's song is a great great song,maybe the best in the album.I heard it on a metal cafe in athens and i was really surprised..
 
If the Angry Metal Guys are complaining that there were a couple tracks that they loved but the rest just never really lived up to their expectations, then I'm probably going to like it. Nearly every review they do of a band I love sounds just like that.

"AMG started listening to Band X back before anyone else had even heard of them and we thought they were cool as hell. We did all sorts of metal things while listening to them. We were really excited to get the new CD because we still remember That Album That Ruled And Was Magic. This new CD is strong and we still like these guys a lot, but nothing can ever be as good as they were 20 years ago when they still sounded new. We are also not convinced by the parts of it that do sound new because those parts just don't sound like we expect the band to sound. We liked the old new better. They should put out something fresh, but not stray so much from their strengths - 3.5."
 
tuonelan said:
"AMG started listening to Band X back before anyone else had even heard of them and we thought they were cool as hell. We did all sorts of metal things while listening to them. We were really excited to get the new CD because we still remember That Album That Ruled And Was Magic. This new CD is strong and we still like these guys a lot, but nothing can ever be as good as they were 20 years ago when they still sounded new. We are also not convinced by the parts of it that do sound new because those parts just don't sound like we expect the band to sound. We liked the old new better. They should put out something fresh, but not stray so much from their strengths - 3.5."
Click to expand...

Hahaha! :Spin:

You forgot to mention Opeth ;)
 
So true! :devil: But so many reviews are in this vein when it comes to established bands. I hope mine won't sound exactly the same in this case, I do smell a bit of this danger in the air. With the difference that my benchmark is only four years old. And if all Amorphis albums were as perfect as that one, it would be scary. After all we're talking about a bunch of guys from my extended neighborhood doing a good job at what they do for a living, not some godlike songwriting machine. [Except that while I'm writing this, I'm listening to "Song of the Sage", which leaves me feeling contradicted. But that's a pretty exceptional one even on their scale.]
 
tuonelan said:
If the Angry Metal Guys are complaining that there were a couple tracks that they loved but the rest just never really lived up to their expectations, then I'm probably going to like it. Nearly every review they do of a band I love sounds just like that.

"AMG started listening to Band X back before anyone else had even heard of them and we thought they were cool as hell. We did all sorts of metal things while listening to them. We were really excited to get the new CD because we still remember That Album That Ruled And Was Magic. This new CD is strong and we still like these guys a lot, but nothing can ever be as good as they were 20 years ago when they still sounded new. We are also not convinced by the parts of it that do sound new because those parts just don't sound like we expect the band to sound. We liked the old new better. They should put out something fresh, but not stray so much from their strengths - 3.5."
Click to expand...

Not sure I agree when it comes to Amorphis. Angry Metal Guy actually gave rave reviews to Eclipse, Silent Waters, and Skyforger (Skyforger was a Perfect 5.0 and I agreed with each review completely - fantastic records). They gave The Beginning Of Times an 'average' review (3.0), and I also felt that LP was just not as good as the previous 3 for a myriad of reasons. That being said, saying that Nightbird's Song and Enchanted By The Moon are average songs is just garbage - they sound great to me. I'm trying not to let any reviews influence my opinion anyways, but I can't stop reading all of them!
 
Surely I saw it coming - me writing a review of "Circle". Volunteered, in fact, but I was just getting ahead of the inevitable. I struggled with the TBOT review, but this one is going to be easier, I think. Anyway, will post it when it's published.
 
Good job of providing substance for your opinions. I will not parody you as I did AMG.

re: vocal melodies...isn't this the first time that Tomi has worked on the melody lines by himself? Could that play into what you are noticing?
 
Great job!! :D

Definitely most fluent and accurate review I have read about Circle.
Not only do I agree on most parts, but the text made me realise something
that was bugging me on the album, like some of the lyrics, for instance.

However I don't think The Wanderer is a weak track by any means. Chorus
is cachy as hell and that high note on "hopeless man" fits its spot. Also
the solo is great and engaging. The thing that shadows Wanderer is that there
is a superior mellow track before it!
 
Eurynome said:
Alright, here you go.

Not unbiased, but trying to be objective. Comments welcome...
Click to expand...

An extremely well written review, well done! Your comments are articulate and thorough. I completely agree with everything you said, and you brought up a few key points I was noticing myself:

4 songs in a row with no growls after Shades of Grey...I'm afraid the band made a mistake here, especially when they had 'Dead Man's Dream' available for inclusion on the LP. This would have helped with the lackluster delivery of the choruses as well! The chorus on this 'bonus track' trumps many of the choruses on the LP! I felt there were spots in the Mission and NarrowPath where growls would have been appropriate to spice the songs up a bit more (although the Mission is great song, one of my favorites).

After the band reached their pinnacle of great choruses on Skyforger, I was slightly disappointed with The Beginning Of Times. It was good, but not great. I agree that the chorus melodies just have not been as good on the last 2 LP's. The only choruses I would consider 'Great' on Circle are The Mission, Enchanted By The Moon, and Dead Man's Dream (while Skyforger had 6 choruses that were pitch perfect). Nightbird's Song too, but that chorus is (awesomely) growled.

I was just listening to Eclipse in the car yesterday, and while Two Moons was on I thought exactly what you said in the review: What happened to those awesome harsh/clean vocals that he used on songs like this and Weaving the Incantation? What a waste not to use them at all, although I think I hear a bit of them on the chorus of Shades Of Gray.

And yes, the band has been heavily using the modulation technique for 20 years, shifting those riffs up or down on the fretboard for dramatic effect. Really a trademark of their songwriting formula at this point.

I also missed the use of the delay effects on Esa's guitar, they barley exist on this album. I would really like to see the band improve the choruses and create more songs like 'Sampo' that step outside the box and have 6-7 riffs, incorporating all the genres the band touches on into one song. This album really has no middle ground as you said in an earlier post, and I'm hoping the band can rediscover the formula for consistently amazing choruses on the next LP.

Ranking the songs on the album:

1. Nightbird's Song
2. The Mission
3. Enchanted by The Moon
4. Into The Abyss
5. Shades Of Grey
6. Narrowpath
7. The Wanderer
8. Hopeless Days
9. A New Day

Honestly, replacing A New Day with a Dead Man's Dream and slightly adjusting the track order would raise my rating of the album from an 82 to about an 88 out of 100.
 
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