Everyday existence feels like it has reached a breaking point where we must make some serious decisions about what the future might look like, and basic freedoms are at stake. This has swept over us the last few years as fascism is on a rise globally, marginalized people continue to struggle as one side of the fight looks on gleefully, and legislation against LGBTQIA+ folks has become frightfully common.

Naturally, art has been fast to respond to such realities, and metallic duo Ragana has not been shy on fighting back against injustice through their music. Their latest is “Desolation’s Flower,” and it’s an emotional, heartbreaking, infuriated, and empathetic record that’s thunderous both musically and philosophically. The band’s members Maria (she/her) and Coley (they/them) have a unique approach to the band as they trade off instruments and vocals, with neither having a concrete role. That makes the collection here very diverse, which anyone following them over their other full-lengths and smaller releases know well, and they deliver one of the most important records for the social justice movement with the incredible collection. You can feel every note in your chest, the ache in your heart, the tire from struggle just to realize basic freedoms and benefits in order to live a comfortable, healthy life. If you’re not already enraged and inspired to fight, this album should push you over the line.

The title track opens the record in dark dreariness, a doomy crawl striking as Coley’s shrieks wrench, the drumming coming unglued. Burly, wild howls drive you back, Coley wailing, “Holy are their names who found desolation’s flower, unending holy bloom that cannot be denied, we hold eternity, they cannot make us die.” The playing encircles as things start to settle, screams crash, and Coley repeats her howl of, “Holy are the names,” paying homage to queer and trans people who paved the way through pain and death so life can be a little easier for those who followed. “Woe” brings a doomy buzz, Maria’s reflective calls digging into you as she sings, “I am a mountain, with winds that blow colder and colder.” Shrieks then rip and buzz, drubbing as sounds swarm, slowly melting as the acidic power eats away at your mind. Desperate howls ring out in your ears, numbing before bleeding away. “Ruins” is cold and drizzling, making it feel like a late autumn downpour, your bones shivering in your shell. Sounds swirl as clean guitars lean in darkly, trickling and entrancing, the eruption taking you from out of nowhere. “Morning star sings to the sun, ‘I long for thee,’” that sentiment repeating and digging into you, vicious howls striking and bruising as the body turns to dust.

“DTA” brings quieter guitars and singing that aims to pierce your heart, Maria calling, “I am a mystery, even to myself, I look in the mirror, see someone else.” The power lathers, and suddenly mixed in, you hear sounds of rioting in Oakland, that whole sequence feeling like a permanent and needed ripple in our lives. “Death to America and everything you’ve done, I can’t feel anything, I am numb,” Maria repeats, each time feeling more resolute in her declaration, ending in anguish and pained distortion. Incredible song. “Winter’s Light, Pt. 2” is the next installment of a series that began on 2017’s “You Take Nothing,” and it starts gently and delicately before blistering hell arrives, anguished howls strangling, the guitars bristling alongside it all. “When the tide’s coming in, I am empty and wild, I would run to your side, in winter’s light,” Coley calls, the guitars swelling with the heartache, lighter bashing registering with a strange kind of force. Solemn doom continues to weigh down, sorrow melts, and sound blooms as Coley concludes, “There is no return to a place before pain, may we find shelter in what remains.” “Pain” brings hearty, emotional guitars and a sense of early ’90s college rock, back when that was a thing. “I want to stay and be with you, I’m dying to know what it feels like,” Maria strikes, that last portion of that statement repeated later. Things feel overcast yet spirited, a grungy haze turns inside your heart and mind, and the final moments disappear into mystery. Closer “In the Light of the Burning World” is quieter with hushed singing, dripping slowly even amid distortion. “Autumn blew in like a spell, roots sleeping while rain fell, formless warmth enveloping, lonely but in love with everything,” Coley calls as the song develops and grows thornier, the shrieks picking up and spitting energy. The playing slowly falls back to earth, sounds quiver, and the remnants of power crash out in waves.

You can live a lifetime of emotion, anguish, pain, and resolution on “Desolation’s Flower” as the two members of Ragana pour all they have in their guts into these seven songs. Everything from violent rage to expressing honor for those who inspired them to continue to battle for social justice are a part of this record, and every second of this is impactful and heavy both sonically and psychologically. This is a beautiful, storming, heartfelt record that is impossible to shake, as these songs will live in your brain, their messages informing every move you make as you navigate an unforgiving world.   

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/raganaband/

To buy the album, go here: https://nowflensing.com/collections/ragana

For more on the label, go here: https://nowflensing.com/