El Salvador’s Conceived By Hate offers an eclectic, furious debut in the four-song EP, Witness of Decay, featuring current Tainan resident Carlos Basagoitia on bass. The members of the band obviously have diverse tastes in music, and they let the best parts of their respective record collections shine through on what is hopefully an indication of what can be expected of them in the future. Vocalist Juan Carlos Oseguera has a raspy growl somewhat similar to Malevolent Creation’s Brett Hoffman, providing a fitting accompaniment the backdrop of music that resembles the death-thrash of Mexico’s Foeticide with elements of Swedish melodic death metal from the likes of Jester Race era In Flames and At the Gates, with a few unique surprises along the way.

Conceived By Hate combines brutality with straight-forward mosh sections and memorable rhythms and leads. The opening Track “Vengeance is the Law” takes the listener from one of the aforementioned elements to the next, featuring a clean interlude in between harmonized guitar leads, death metal blast beats and riffs, and a ripping solo.

This is followed by the title track, which is the first time the keyboard work of Tulio Mata becomes readily evident in the mix, providing an intensely dark atmosphere to the song. The band demonstrates that the musicians collectively possess a well-rounded sense of song structure, as evidenced by the Morbid Angel-style outro lead to appropriately compliment the track’s apocalyptic tone.

The third track, “Believe,” takes things down a notch with a clean instrumental intro accompanied by almost gothic backing vocals leading into a classic thrash mosh composition that gives way to a melodic death riff. The band’s Latin roots really come through in the acoustic interludes, adding yet another element to their unique mix of styles, and once again the atmospheric keyboard work of Mata can be heard.

The album is concluded with the acoustic guitar number “Solitude Fills This Space,” which reminds of the early dual acoustic guitar numbers of In Flames. It’s not as intricate as the work of Stromblad and Gelotte, but it does provide a soothing, fitting contrast to the fury that preceded it. This song shows the band’s depth of vision and skill, and puts a final exclamation point on the fact that Conceived By Hate is anything but a one dimensional band.

Conceived By Hate knows how to build the internal drama of a song and let the listener sense where the song is heading next while still resisting becoming boring or predictable. Not one song on the EP ever falls flat or disappoints in terms of the direction of the music. There are neither ostentatious breakdowns nor a hint of anything remotely trendy here, which is something to be thankful for. Conceived By Hate is obviously a band that stays true to its influences, without trying to incorporate anything that might prompt the scene kids to drive up the hit count on their Myspace page. This is true metal, made from scratch.

Track List:
1. Vengeance is the Law
2. Witness of Decay
3. Believe
4. Solitude Fills the Space

For fans of: At the Gates, Malevolent Creation, Foeticide, In Flames