Lista de los grupos Black Metal Warfield (MEX) Trivmvirat

Warfield hails from Mexico, the land of bands such as Hacavitz and Moonlight. Trivmvirat is their first EP after the release of their 2009 full length album, Conquering the Black Horde. The Chaos Records reissue of the EP features 4 bonus tracks - 3 live tracks and 1 rehearsal track.

Warfield features guitarist Molosh (Antimo Buonnano) among the lineup, who also plays in Mexican black/death metal band Hacavitz and who was previously from Singaporean black/thrash metal band Impiety. It was interesting then, to see how his work with Warfield will differ from the other bands that he is involved in.

Unlike Hacavitz's brutal brand of black/death metal, Warfield plays a form of more straightforward black metal, in the veins of their Swedish counterparts such as Marduk and Watain. The opening track, The Initiate opens with a standard simple 4/4 rock beat before feedback from the guitars come into the picture and the bass looming at the background. As the first notes of the guitar are picked, the atmosphere of the music is set, cold and grim. Warfield also doesn't forget to add the melodic parts into their music, such as on Divinity, where melodic tremolo picked riffs are littered throughout the song.

The echoey vocals add to the overall atmosphere, adding to the already grim mood. If you listen carefully, tasteful guitar lines are littered behind the chaos at the foreground, with the listener having to pay close attention to catch these interesting bits. Drummer Infernal proves his versatility, with lots of air time provided for him to carry the songs through, backed only by the feedback of the guitars, at times blasting relentlessly yet at times playing at an agonisingly slow pace, with such passages often testing his ability to maintain the rhythm of the song and keep the listener engaged at the same time. The crisp production on the studio tracks also make the listen enjoyable (though I usually prefer my black metal raw!) for those who are not used to raw black metal.

The focus on the reissue is perhaps the 4 bonus tracks included. The live tracks are suitably raw, yet not muddy and unpolished to the point that the instruments are drained out, though at some points the guitars are barely audible, for example, the guitar lead on Vomit on the Cross. However, it is on the live recordings where the energy of the band seeps out, infecting the listener. The rehearsal track, a previously unreleased track, Pestilencia is perhaps my favourite track off the EP (if only they had vocals over the instruments!), with the band displaying their ability in full glory, without the glossy production that undermines the energy of the band. The shift from the fast paced music to the slower paced music towards the end of the song, yet retaining the atmosphere in the music, further displays the band's songwriting versatility.

While Warfield's music introduces nothing new, it is certainly a mark of the rising of Mexican bands in the international metal scene. Recommended for fans of Hacavitz and Swedish black metal.