Instead, Circle was produced by Peter Tägtgren and focuses on an original story penned by lyricist Pekka Kainulainen.

[6] Peter Tägtgren, who had previously worked with Children of Bodom, Celtic Frost and Dimmu Borgir, among others, produced and mixed the album.

[6] As Tomi Koivusaari observed, the band was initially surprised by the up-front position that Tägtgren gave to the guitars relative to the keyboards.

The band chose a "peaceful place" in the countryside to record, which, Koivusaari felt, led to the distinctive atmosphere.

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.

[13] Besides being available on CD, the album will also be released as a CD/DVD digibook (which includes a "Making of Circle" documentary and a music video for "Nightbird's Song"), a gatefold LP, and as a limited edition box set, containing three bonus track and a wristband.

[13] On 14 February, Amorphis announced that they would be performing Circle in its entirety at a special record-release show, on 25 April at the Circus in Helsinki.