The Night Watch - Boundaries

Folky instrumental metal is a super hard genre to pull off, but when you have guitarist extraordinaire Nathanael Larochette and the masterful violin of Evan Runge even the most impossible tasks become easy. The Night Watch have captured the power of their genre and distill into a truly unique sound. So now, with a single 36 minute long song that was two years in the making we are able to dive in and fully appreciate The Night Watch for all they have crafted. This is the sort of expansion on traditional metal ideas that I love.

There is a wonderful sense of forward motion that really defines Boundaries - even at its most laid back and chilled out moments. The Night Watch impress because even though this offering is just a single massive song they make it work. They take all of the magic that has defined their sound and distill it into something beautiful. There is a very sublime sense of poetry to what the band has done here, especially with regards to the violins which take some truly interesting turns and craft some beautiful melodic lines. This record fits largely into the classical canon which both Larochette and Runge come from, making it, for nerds like me, an addictive listen.

It's fun to get lost in the high minded pursuits of Boundaries partially because it is nowhere near as pretentious as I am making it sound. This is an album you could put on for just about any music fan and they would have to admit that there is something very special going on here. The Night Watch is a band who play by a lot of the conventional rules, but in their expansion upon them have found greatness. The combination of crunching electric guitar, swooping violins and perfectly composed drums makes for greatness.

Find them on Facebook!