Nearly three thousand years ago, the valleys of the Alps belonged to the Rhaetian people — a civilization that spoke a non-Indo-European language and left behind only a handful of surviving texts. That silence is exactly the space RAKINUA step into. Esi Um Ninu – Heal Us, Mother, the debut album from the duo of Velis and Madame Noctinebra, released May 29, 2026 via Dusktone, tells the story of a priestess who senses her tribe drifting from the true faith and of the cleansing that follows. The lyrics are written in English to carry the narrative, but the world they describe is drawn from those Alpine valleys and the people who vanished from them.
The press release reaches for WARDRUNA and HEILUNG, and I wouldn't put RAKINUA in that company. Those projects are built on traditional instrumentation as a creed; RAKINUA aren't. They do craft folk-pagan melodies, and string instruments — including Anna Eggersberger's harp — do real work here, but the backbone of these compositions is dynamic, heavy electric guitar riffing. This is pagan metal led by female vocals, with harsh vocals appearing as rare, well-placed accents rather than a constant presence. The result hits with a power that the ritual-ambient school deliberately avoids.
The album is structured as a journey. "The Prophecy" opens the record as a two-minute, almost entirely instrumental overture, and "Sacrilege" enters on a lighter mood — deceptively so, because from there the story darkens as the tribe's faith unravels. Between the songs sit the visions of the Oracle, six interludes that thread the narrative together. I won't spoil what they contain: they're worth hearing unspoiled, and the same goes for the lyrics of the songs themselves. Listen closely to both.
The centerpiece arrives near the end. "The Old Paths – Sangue" runs almost thirteen minutes, an epic that reaches back and reconnects with the melodies of earlier tracks — the kind of payoff a concept album of this ambition owes its listener, and RAKINUA deliver it. Then "Peaceful Night" closes the record on acoustic guitar, a final scene rather than a fade.
My favorite moment of the whole album is "Warrior of Light." Built on the symbolic cycle of the sun — born at dawn, fighting across the sky, falling into darkness only to rise again — it captures everything this record does well in a single track: the harp textures, the acoustic foundations, and the metal weight arriving exactly when the song demands it.
For a debut, Esi Um Ninu – Heal Us, Mother is remarkably assured. Behind the duo stands a strong supporting cast — Fabio D'Amore (SERENITY) produced the record and contributed bass, keyboards, and vocals; Sybell (Cristina Spadotto) of UTTERN handles guitars and the harsh vocals; Niklas Müller of AD INFINITUM sits behind the drum kit. But the vision belongs to Velis and Madame Noctinebra, and it's a vision with a rare quality: it makes you want to read about a people you'd likely never heard of before pressing play.
Promo provided by the band
Release: May 29th 2026
Links
RAKINUA - Warrior Of Light: