We don’t do a lot of reissues around here, which doesn’t mean we don’t like when music gets a new chance at life. There’s just so much new music flowing out of every corner that I’d rather tackle that stuff and leave reissues, live albums, and compilations to other sites with more than one person. But never say never.

Persistent Vision Records is a Virginia-based label that is doing a lot of reissues of out-of-print records and newer albums, and they’ve got two right now that are getting well-deserved second lives. One we covered back when it first came out, so we’ll get that that one. The other is “Insania,” the debut album from Mexican crushers Habak, who combine punk, hardcore, and metal into a mauling seven-track package. The album originally was released in 2014, and now this music can live on and find a new audience. Which is well deserved as the band—vocalist Alejandra Valdez, guitarists Eduardo Valdez and Juan Cintora, bassist Alejandro Perez, drummer Patrick Alexander—was poking as societal woes that only had begun to crest and now are full-blown fires.

“Inmune al Dolor” opens by hovering dangerously, cold guitars drizzling, slowly punching up as Valdez’s acidic howls wrench into your chest. The bruising continues but slows for a stretch, and then howls scrape, dark and foreboding melodies envelop and eventually flow to a definitive flatline. “Orbe de Almas” charges with a punk-fueled rage, raspy wails whipping with stormy force. The playing lands blows and creates bruising, swimming into icy waters, speaking chilling, and gazey melodies mixing in with the chaos and slowly draining away. “Rostros Borrosos” opens with clean guitars and a foggy ambiance, and then monstrous howls erupt, building to a storming force that cannot be denied. The bass recoils as the guitars chime, the intensity whipping back in, ending with nasty intent.

“Condenado al Olvido” starts with plinking guitars and a hypnotic pressure as the playing rips open, and animalistic force stomping toward throats. The intensity rushes and battles before a psychedelic edge rises, pushing into New Wave-style melodies, giving way to a crushing end. The title track opens with Valdez’s raspy howls, the playing slashing through emotional terrain, group chants adding more adrenaline to the piece. Guitars lather as a fiery, channeled assault gives way, disappearing into darkness. “El Deceso/Vestigios” is the album ender, leading in with tumultuous, emotional carnage, melodies flowing as the power flexes with attitude. Sounds ache, Valdez’s wails press muscles, and sounds flow into moody darkness and aching misery before the pace explodes, shrieks breathe fire, and the sparks fly, letting the final moment singe the flesh. There also is a live version of “Orbe de Almas” at the end, giving you as taste of how incendiary the band is live.

A decade after “Insania” arrived for the first time, this remastered version hopefully will reach even more ears with this reissue. You can be a fan of metal, hardcore, punk, and other dark arts and find plenty to like with this band and album, as their energy and passion are impossible to dislike. A lot of time has passed since this band unleashed this record, and it sounds as vibrant and urgent as it did on that day.

We also have another reissue from Persistent Vision that we’ve covered before but still is worth your time and money. In advance of their upcoming third record, we get a fresh chance to appreciate Fórn’s debut “The Departure of Consciousness.” This record also dawned in 2014 and twisted funeral doom into a darker, bloodier corner, leaning less on elegance and more on carnage. The copy I ordered just arrived this week, and listening to this again on fresh wax was a great experience. It made me remember why I got into this band in the first place, and there is so much going on with these six tracks and 32 minutes that it’s easy to get lost in the carnage. And it’s worth it. Like the Habak album, it hits just as hard, if not harder, a decade into its lifespan.

Here’s what we wrote in the dark ages of this site when this record came out. meatmeadmetal.com/2015/03/05/gilead-media-offers-up-diverse-releases-with-forns-metallic-muscle-implodes-hazy-dreams/

For more on Habak, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Habakpunx

For more on Fórn, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Forndoom

To buy either album, go here: https://persistentvisionrecords.com/collections/persistent-vision-releases

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