Los Angeles melodic metal band, Ninth Circle, confirm they have begun writing their fourth album, the follow-up to the Pure Rock Records release, Legions Of The Brave.

Bassist Frank Forray sheds light on the bands secretive writing process” “There’s nothing really magical about our writing system. It is really more a process than anything else.” Frank goes on to explain the band’s writing process: “Generally what happens is I’m constantly writing music, usually all year long. At this point I typically have about 35 new songs. Some are based on ideas from previous sessions, but the majority of ideas are brand new ideas.”

Frank goes on to explain his writing process: “I normally start with a main riff which often becomes the chorus. Then I build the verse based on the variation of the main the riff, then the pre-chorus or bridge then back into the chorus. Where I generally start to stretch musically is around the guitar solo.”

“The guitar solo”, as Frank explains, “leaves us opportunities to take a left turn or two, then a right turn that the listener would not often expect. For example, The Power of One, All or Nothing and Grinding the Bastards down are great examples of where we take some interesting  turns before the guitar solo kicks in. I think this makes our songs much more interesting. In a way I think this has become Ninth Circle’s signature sound.”

Frank describes how the band puts it all together before they head into the studio: “Once I have pieced everything together musically and lyrically, then I take it to the band. I write all the music first. Then I have to be inspired by a title or phrase which I usually create based on a personal experience or something of high interest to me such as human behavior or psychology, historical events, or based on my principles of treating people fairly with respect and dignity.”

“Once I have a finished product I bring it to the band. I am generally writing for Dennis Brown. I consider myself the Bernie Taupin to Dennis’ Elton John. Dennis’ style and my style are very similar and generally my brain is moving so fast that I am in constant writing mode and present things to Dennis all the time.”

“Currently we are in the bringing ideas to the band mode. Because I have so much material written I have to pare it down to the best 12 to 15 songs. From there it gets even more pared down and then Dennis introduces ideas which he has been working on. Right now we have worked up three new songs with working titles of “Return Of The King”, “Prelude To Glory” and “When The Sun Goes Down”.”

Frank describes the band’s enthusiasm with the new material, “We have been supporting our current album for about 18 months and we are hungry for new songs. Our new songs, as compared to the last album, are a bit more straight ahead metal songs with some elements of power metal, progressive metal and shorter than the previous batch of songs. Dennis and I committed to getting to the point much quicker this time.”