The first in what is (hopefully) a series of releases celebrating the early works of underground Polish dark/post-punks ONE MILLION BULGARIANS. Brooding and cold mechanical wave sounds with a bass-heavy recording and a deliberate, plodding pace, this collects recordings from 1986, at the very beginning of the band’s run. You know SIEKIERA…right? Considerably less accessible, which is precisely what makes this release so compelling.
Without doing a deep dive into ONE MILLION BULGARIANS and wasting time, I’ll just say that they were a goth band from the ’80s. This LP is a long-awaited release, and is well worth seeking out. A little more punk than most goth and heavier than most punk bands, ONE MILLION BULGARIANS fit into an interesting sound. The vocals almost conjure AXEGRINDER when they really start to kick in. Chunky bass tones combine with grinding, rhythm-heavy guitar to form a wall of industrial sound that also gives impressions of KILLING JOKE and MINISTRY. Crashing metallic noises and the sound of bouncing balls of skin replace the sound of drums when the jams begin to flow. As one of those people who likes aggressive music that doesn’t seem to have an ounce of light in it, I really dig this album. It’s kind of like early crust, kind of like early goth, and entirely its own thing.
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.
REJESTRACJA is a somewhat elusive band. I remember first hearing about them back in 2006 when my old band spent a few weeks touring in Eastern Europe. Here it is over twenty years later, and I finally get to check them out! I’m not entirely sure of the provenance, but I believe this is a reissue of a cassette release from 1983. There appears to have been a version of this from 2017, but in any case, this is remastered and ready to burn up your turntable. REJESTRACJA absolutely rips! Fast, unrelenting political hardcore punk that has the perfect blend of hooks and aggression. There are tons of juicy riffs throughout the twenty songs, with great drumming and forceful vocals. The songwriting makes me thankful to own a copy of B.G.K.’s Jonestown Aloha!, which I think I’ll throw on next. In case it isn’t abundantly clear, Darmowe Wczasy gets a strong recommendation from me. Killer stuff.
Reissued live 1986 recording of Polish punk legends REJESTRACJA. Fiercely political, at a time and a place where that could get you in more than a bit of bother, it’s an interesting time capsule for a scene that often gets overlooked in the dusty annals of punk’s desire to navel-gaze and sniff its own farts. Musically, I have to say, not quite for me—some of its more “musically progressive” elements come across a bit noodly, but I think that some of the comparisons to DEAD KENNEDYS or MDC aren’t too far off the mark, either. A fun exploration through the punk history books nonetheless.
