Dirty Wombs – Accursed To Overcome

Artist: Dirty Wombs

Title: Accursed To Overcome

Release: LP / Digital

Year: 2018

Label: SPHC Records

Dirty Wombs formed in early 2011 when four university students from Athens and Volos ended up in Patras, Greece’s third largest city. What started as a shared outlet for creativity and political frustration quickly evolved into a full-blown DIY hardcore punk band.

While in Patras, the band got involved with the Prokat 35 squat, a self-organized anti-authoritarian space in the university district that’s been a vital hub for political activity and underground culture. As many DIY punk bands from Greece, Dirty Wombs were never just about the music, and the squat was proof that their hearts were fully invested in something bigger.

Their first demo came out on cassette, and already showed they weren’t content with going through the motions. It featured a truly unique Greek-language cover of Death Side with the use of bouzouki, a musical instrument traditional to Greece that was brought there by immigrants from Turkey in the 1900s. Following the demo, Dirty Wombs released two split vinyl releases, the Opposite Flow (2014), and appeared on several compilations. In 2016, Japanese label Break The Records released a Dirty Wombs 2011 – 2016 Discography CD, and in the same year Imminent Destruction and Desolate Records dropped their Wrecked Youth EP.

By 2018, none of the members were living in Patras anymore. It felt like maybe that was it. But instead of fading out, they came back louder than ever: with a full-length and a US tour to boot. The band’s first proper full-length, Accursed To Overcome came out that November, right alongside shows on both coasts of the States.

Over the years, Dirty Wombs have built a strong foundation within the Greek DIY punk scene—socially, politically, and musically—and from there, they’ve driven their sound into the wild, emotionally charged terrain of Japanese “burning spirits” hardcore. With Accursed To Overcome, they’ve crafted their most cohesive and mature work to date.

My personal highlight from the eight-song LP is the opening track, “Ignition”, with its fast, riff-heavy punch that encapsulates everything this band is about. It’s about the idea that society is rotten to the core, giving birth to lifeless people locked into the rules of so-called ‘normality.’ The only way forward is to reject that normality, tear it down, and either create new realities or pry open the cracks that already exist within this decaying capitalist corpse.

Amidst the darkness we burn, black silhouettes in a gray metropolis
Amidst the darkness we burn, refusing their normality
Amidst the darkness we burn, cracks that deepen on towering walls
Amidst the darkness we burn, still besieging alienation

The title track “Accursed To Overcome” is a fierce tribute to bands like Crude, Forward, Judgement, and Death Side, while “Years Evaporate” and “A Call To Transcend” carry the unmistakable fire of the Greek DIY hardcore tradition. Final track “Triumph of Imagination” opens with buzzsaw guitars, grimy bass, and relentless d-beat drumming, then closes with a melancholic piano outro. Throughout the record, Dirty Wombs stick to their native Greek language, delivering lyrics that are as political as they are personal. Firmly rounded in local struggles, but relatable far beyond it.

Musically, Accursed To Overcome carries the same power and intensity as the Japanese classics that influenced it, but Dirty Wombs never sound like imitators. They’ve found their own sound, carved their own reality. And for this, Accursed To Overcome stands strong on its own. Excellent record from people I love.