Ragana

Released in 2021 via An Outsider Recordings, Ragana’s Let Our Names Be Forgotten is a devastatingly powerful and emotionally raw album that continues the band’s exploration of blackened sludge and doom-infused soundscapes. Across its intense runtime, the album balances sheer heaviness with moments of haunting introspection, showcasing the duo’s mastery of dynamics, texture, and catharsis.

The album opens with Grief Cult, immediately immersing the listener in a swirl of crushing riffs, thunderous drumming, and Maria’s anguished, commanding vocals. Throughout Let Our Names Be Forgotten, tracks such as This Silence and The Departed highlight Ragana’s ability to craft tension and release, alternating between moments of suffocating intensity and fragile, melodic passages that linger long after the distortion fades.

Instrumentation is precise and visceral. Guitar and bass intertwine to create dense, oppressive walls of sound, while Coley’s drumming provides both devastating impact and subtle rhythmic shifts. The interplay between raw aggression and melodic nuance gives the album its emotional resonance, allowing the heaviness to feel purposeful rather than gratuitous.

Production emphasizes immediacy and weight, capturing the band’s intensity while preserving the depth and texture of each instrument. Vocals cut through the mix with emotional clarity, further enhancing the album’s immersive, confrontational atmosphere.

Let Our Names Be Forgotten is more than a display of sonic brutality; it is a meditation on grief, loss, and survival. The album transforms despair into ritualistic power, creating a space for reflection within the chaos.

Ultimately, Let Our Names Be Forgotten stands as one of Ragana’s most compelling and mature works. It is an album of intensity and nuance, unflinching in its heaviness yet profoundly human in its emotional depth.