TOOMS – KARST
Label: Road To Masochist
Release Date: May 29th 2026
Genre: Progressive Sludge Metal
FFO: Mastodon | Inter Arma | Baroness | Kylesa
Ireland’s underground metal scene has always had a nasty little habit of producing bands capable of flattening buildings with riffs alone — and Limerick sludge warlords Tooms have just stomped straight into that conversation with their colossal new album Karst. 🖤⚡
If you like your music thick with atmosphere, dripping in emotional weight, and sounding like a mountain collapsing directly onto your stereo system… c’mon butt, you’re gonna love this one.
FROM THE MURKY DEPTHS OF LIMERICK 🌧️🎸
Tooms first emerged back in 2017, although bassist Anto Donnellan, drummer Kieran Grace, and guitarist/vocalist Alex Hölzinger had already been creating chaos together for years beforehand under the name Gaia.
But once the band unleashed their first Tooms single, “Simon Ferocious”, things started evolving fast. Their 2020 debut album The Orb Offers Massive Signals earned praise across the underground scene, with critics hailing its swampy heaviness and suffocating atmosphere.
Now, with Karst, Tooms haven’t just levelled up…
They’ve kicked the whole bloody ceiling down. 😈
RIFFS THAT FEEL LIKE CAVE-INS ⛰️💀
Opening track “Blood Rust – Of Cudgel And Quill” crawls out of the speakers like an ancient beast waking beneath the earth. The guitars grind and snarl with this barely-contained violence bubbling underneath every note, while the rhythm section sounds like tectonic plates fighting in a pub car park.
It’s filthy.
It’s ugly.
It’s glorious.
Then comes “Lowlander”, where the progressive side of Tooms really starts stretching its limbs. The band shift between crushing sludge, eerie atmosphere, and moments of strange beauty without ever losing their raw edge.
This isn’t polished prog metal for blokes who own six lava lamps and explain time signatures at parties.
This is mud-covered, emotionally wrecked, real-world heaviness. Proper earthy stuff. 🌧️🔥
BEAUTY IN THE DIRT 🖤⚡
Tracks like “Tower Of Silence” feel massive and imposing, while “Whitethorn” lashes out unpredictably with jagged riffs hiding around every corner like rusty bear traps.
Then there’s “Two Silver Pieces”, which carries this exhausted emotional weight that hits hard. It sounds like years of heartbreak, disappointment, and battered hope compressed into riffs thick enough to crack concrete.
Honestly, there’s a weird humanity running through Karst. Beneath all the sludge and distortion, there’s vulnerability. Reflection. A sense that this record was dragged out of somewhere painfully real.
And that’s what makes it hit so hard.
A FINALE BUILT FOR THE END OF THE WORLD 🚀🔥
Closing track “Physics Beyond The Standard Model” is absolutely staggering.
No exaggeration, mun — this thing feels cinematic in scale. It’s the kind of closer that makes you sit there afterwards staring at the wall while your brain slowly reloads itself.
The track pulls together everything Tooms do brilliantly:
- crushing heaviness
- emotional intensity
- progressive ambition
- raw atmosphere
- absolute riff carnage
By the time it ends, Karst genuinely feels like a journey you’ve survived rather than simply listened to.
THE PRODUCTION IS FILTHY IN ALL THE RIGHT WAYS 🎚️🖤
Recorded with long-time collaborator Chris Quigley at The Meadow Studios, then mixed by legendary producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Isis, The Sword) and mastered by Chris Fielding (Conan, Hooded Menace, Darkest Era), the album sounds enormous without losing its grime.
Nothing’s overproduced.
Nothing’s sterilised.
Every riff still has dirt under its fingernails.
Exactly how sludge metal should sound, butt.
TOOMS – KARST TRACK HIGHLIGHTS 🎵
🔥 Blood Rust – Of Cudgel And Quill
🔥 Lowlander
🔥 Tower Of Silence
🔥 Whitethorn
🔥 Two Silver Pieces
🔥 Physics Beyond The Standard Model
LINE-UP 🎸🥁
- Anto Donnellan – Bass
- Kieran Grace – Drums
- Alex Hölzinger – Guitars/Vocals
WHERE TO FIND TOOMS 🌍
Facebook:
Tooms Facebook
Road To Masochist:
Road To Masochist Records
Cursed Monk Records:
Cursed Monk Records
Fiadh Productions:
Fiadh Bandcamp
RIFF REPORT VERDICT 🤘🔥
Karst is heavy enough to crack the earth open, but clever enough to keep revealing new layers every time you dive back in. Tooms have created something genuinely immersive here — a progressive sludge album full of atmosphere, emotional scars, and riffs capable of levelling villages.
One of the most impressive underground metal releases of 2026 so far.
Now excuse us while we go stare moodily into the rain with this album on repeat. 🌧️🖤
