Los Angeles power metal trio NINTH CIRCLE have been locked away in studios throughout Southern California wrapping up writing sessions for the follow up record to 2008’s The Power of One. According to management the band have been making tremendous progress over the past few weeks and are writing some intensely heavy and dynamic new material. The band’s handlers are highly impressed with what the band has come up with so far and are looking forward with great anticipation to the finish product.

“The writing sessions have been great so far”, says bassist Frank Forray. “Everyone is in the zone in terms of ideas, arrangement and melody. It’s an incredible time to be in the band. I don’t ever recall our past writing sessions to be so fluid with ideas. Dennis and I have been set in our ways for years in terms of how we write and Dave brings a fantastic new element of arrangement, timing, melody and overall songwriting. It is really pushing the boundaries of what Ninth Circle is really capable of doing.”

Frank gives some insight to current writing sessions, “One of the current songs we are working on is a power ballad called 'Going Home'. Over the summer when we first got back together to write after Dave’s surgery, Dave said why don’t we write a ballad for the record? To be honest, a ballad was not even on my radar, and I’m a huge of fan the power ballads when done right, such as ones done by the SCORPIONS. So within a few days I had everything written. I brought it to the band and we began to craft its shape. After a few rehearsals Dave suggested a new arrangement for the song and bang! Something I thought was already at a 10 really got shot through the universe! Dave’s challenging our formulas which is very good for the band’s overall songwriting skills.”

“We have been trying to craft some truly dynamic songs which will have that definitive Ninth Circle sound, but the goal is not to be redundant to give our fans an even better listening experience with the new record. I’ve always enjoyed that excitement as a fan where I couldn’t wait for the next IRON MAIDEN record. I wanted to see what they were going to do next, but I knew it was going to have that Maiden sound that I loved.”

The band have posted 30-second video clips of two new songs, 'After the Rain' and 'Legions Of The Brave'. Check them out below:

Ninth Circle continues with their writing schedule for the rest of October and will be hitting the studio by November.