KARNER to release 'Zebrest:Zintrest' December 17th via Folter Records

From the burning heights of the sun to the lightless depths beneath all existence, Austrian Black Metal band KARNER, hailing from Villach, Carinthia, descend once more with their second full-length album, Zebrest:Zintrest.

With its fusion of raw, second-wave authenticity, elegiac melodies, and a lingering invocation of the forces of nature, folklore, and death, Zebrest:Zintrest appears like a porous, moss-covered monolith that will endure for eternity.

Even the opening track, 'Zebrest'—rising ghostlike from the depths of history as if to the singing of a long-vanished Christian congregation and flowing into a chorus of folkloric, pagan splendour—already hints at the intensity of what is to come. Whether it's 'Die letzte Sun', which combines riot and harshness with an elegiac melody reminiscent of Katatonia's finest days; 'Thronfoll', which blends blasts and majestic melodies; or the infernal 'Limbus', screaming over a deep abyss and rocking with brute force—Karner do not remain confined to limitations and compositional simplicity when they take you along on their dark journey.

Zebrest:Zintrest is a movement between extremes: light and abyss, creation and destruction, defiance and downfall, the uppermost and the lowermost. A journey that begins in blinding radiance and ends beyond darkness itself. These ambiguities shape every composition, giving the music its own character. Fierce and unrestrained in its most frantic moments, vast and epic when it reaches beyond the horizon. The album, completely written in the band's regional dialect, unfolds as a world of opposing forces colliding and merging into one another.

Karner Band Bio:
Formed in 2014 in Villach, Austria, KARNER are now in their 12th year of existence. Their first manifestation, Knochnkerker (Demo 2018), laid the foundation for a sound that would further evolve on their full-length album Untam Liacht tota Stern in 2022 and the Berg wocht EP in 2023. Now emerging once more from the abyss, KARNER return with their second full-length album, Zebrest:Zintrest (Topmost:Bottommost). The name Karner (Eng. 'charnel house') derives from an old regional term referring to a vault or hall where human skeletal remains are stored, usually near a church. In a broader sense, it is a place where the spirits of the dead gather—a shelter for unwanted and forlorn souls. The concept of death as an overwhelming power and the source of all fears, but also of creativity and inspiration, is one of Karner's central themes. Driven by a collective approach to creating grounded, dark music, Karner follow their own path, drawing inspiration primarily from Vanitas motifs, nature, traditions, and the rugged landscapes of Southern Austria. Through sublime odes to death, written and performed in the local dialects of their homeland, they praise devastation and the irrepressible forces of nature.

Track Listing:
01 - Zebrest
02 - Die letzte Sun
03 - Thronfoll
04 - Die Stuarmschoor
05 - Wiedagong
06 - Viech
07 - Limbus
08 - In die Tiafn
09 - Zintrest

From above to below. From everything into nothing. ZEBREST:ZINTREST. Folter Records is proud to present this profound manifesto of dark compositional art. Zebrest:Zintrest will be released on Digipack CD