Now, this is a long-overdue reissue of a band that is cult if you are Polish, and probably completely unknown if you are not. A tribute to REJESTRACJA was even released a couple of years ago, and that says something about a band’s status. Have you ever been to a gig in a foreign country and all of a sudden, the local band covers a song you have absolutely never heard but everyone goes apeshit and sings along to the lyrics, spills their glasses on your favourite shirt, and you’re just left with a sense of cultural irrelevance and curiosity? They would be that kind of cover. Every place has its local heroes, and Toruń’s REJESTRACJA was such an act in the early ’80s, back in the glorious days of Polish communism when being a punk was not a tea party and singing protest songs was legally forbidden. In these early days of Polish punk, the band was mostly known through live tapes and performances, notably at the legendary Jarocin festivals, because it was hard to release a proper record at a time when record labels were owned by the state. They only recorded one studio demo (entitled Kontrola) as a consequence, with a sound that can be said to be about as rough and direct as their live recordings. REJESTRACJA was undeniably snotty, angry, and energetic, and can be said to have been the fastest band of the country in 1982. It’s not all hardcore punk though, as the band had several songwriting tricks up its sleeves. You’ve got dark and mid-paced punk rock numbers with almost goth-style sung vocals typical of early Eastern European punk (“Tunel” and the incredible “Idzie Wariat Ulicą”), but also snotty and catchy dynamic punk rock songs with sing-along choruses (“Nowa Generacja” or “Perweriusz”), and of course those fast and frantic raw hardcore punk numbers (like my favourite “Armia”) that saw the band at its most energetic and ferocious—the drummer’s style is pretty amazing and he certainly like his rolls fast and manic for extra dynamism. On the Kontrola LP (which comes with a booklet with lyrics and pictures), five songs recorded live between 1981 and 1982 have been added as bonuses. They certainly have that distinct Polish style, but early Italian hardcore and bands like DISORDER or even CRASS do come to mind, and if you are a fan of early hardcore punk, you must give REJESTRACJA listen, and maybe even learn how to pronounce their name.
