Bayonet Dismemberment - Tomb Of Sand

Little is known about Canada’s five piece of Brutal Slam Death known as Bayonet Dismemberment. Creating a sound that sounded like a mix of Suffocation meets Carnivore Diprosopus on their first EP back in 2024, a year later they unleash their second EP known as “Tomb Of Sand.” Slam Brutal Death is a genre where bands are a dime a dozen and it becomes hard to stand out in the sea, so bands either up the extremity of the music, induce brutal imagery or lyrics to shock and awe, or do something off the wall that attracts the more eclectic fans. Bayonet Dismemberment thankfully stick to their formula and change their sound a bit to make it interesting, but still stick to the Slam formula.

Opening differently while still riffing on the whole Bush era admin, ‘Danger Close’ features politically charged vocal samples from former President Bush among slamming riffs before the recognizable sound of chugs and bellows/ gurgles come in with the title track. Featuring Disfiguring the Goddess is nothing new as Bayonet Dismemberment are used to hosting guests, but the fellow band’s vocal appearance is a little harder to distinguish than previous guests- like Vomit Forth- from vocalist Landon Furoy whose voice is still ferocious and keeps up with the heavy riffs from Colin Ryley and Christian Frizzelle. The biggest change is the ‘trash can beatdown drum sound’ which sounds fantastic and Slam driven from Aslan Shomakhov. At some points on the EP it even has that Industrial flair like that of the Berzerker like on a track such as ‘Gavel,’ which features no guests and lets the band shine on their own more.

Sadly unless the Slams are ‘filthy,’ the bass from Emmanuel Gonzalez is mostly lost in the mix, mostly because the guitars and drums are competing for the front row. Even the vocals tend to get drowned out a bit on the EP when everything really gets going. What Bayonet really have going for them on the Slam side though is groove throughout the album; on a track like ‘Detonation,’ the more pausing moments when it is just the guitars, then drums, then guitars, then drums, shed away more from the Suffocation side of things and aim for more of a Peelingflesh kind of vibe, especially with the use of samples, just less thuggish. As a result, there is more to love here on the EP compared to the last one, and those who like to 2 step mosh and just jump up and down in that pit will really enjoy what few tracks “Tomb Of Sand” has to offer. It is pretty bare minimum still, but there’s always room for improvement and progression which the band seems to keep doing, so hopefully the next EP/ full-length will show just that while they still remain Brutal Slammy as ever.  

3.5 / 5 STARS