Screamo is an aggressive subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics". San Diego-based bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow pioneered the genre in the early 1990s, and it was developed in the late 1990s mainly by bands from the East Coast of the United States such as Pg. 99, Orchid, Saetia, and I Hate Myself. Screamo is strongly influenced by hardcore punk and characterized by the use of screamed vocals. Lyrical themes usually include emotional pain, death, romance, and human rights. The term "screamo" has frequently been mistaken as referring to any music with screaming.
Orchid is an American screamo and hardcore punk band from Amherst, Massachusetts. Originally active from 1997 until 2002, they released several EPs and splits as well as three studio albums. The band consists of lead vocalist Jayson Green, drummer Jeffrey Salane, guitarist Will Killingsworth, and bassist Geoff Garlock. Orchid announced a reunion in December 2023.
City of Caterpillar is an American post-hardcore band from Richmond, Virginia, formed in 2000. They have released a split with Pg. 99, two studio albums, and a full-length compilation of demos and live tracks. Their songs, some of which are over 10 minutes long, are often characterized by melodic post-rock passages building up into chaotic outbursts.
Saetia is a New York City-based screamo band. While relatively unknown during their initial existence, the band is now seen as one of the most critically lauded bands of the late-1990s screamo scene. Stewart Mason of AllMusic described their music as an "essential document" for fans of screamo.
Portraits of Past was an American post-hardcore band from the San Francisco Bay Area that existed roughly from 1994–1995. The genre of music that they helped create is often described as "screamo," though that term was not used at the time the band was active. As Kent McClard recounts on the Ebullition website, the band's popularity grew only a couple of years after their demise at the end of 1995.
Los Crudos is an American hardcore punk band from Chicago, Illinois active from 1991 to 1998 and from 2006 onward. Comprising all Latino members, the band paved the way for later Spanish-speaking punk bands in the United States and helped to increase the presence of Latinos in the country's predominantly white punk subculture.
Hellnation was a hardcore punk band from Covington, Kentucky. The band was active from 1988 to 2010.
Pg. 99 was a screamo band from Sterling, Virginia, a town on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., who are widely considered one of the pioneers of the screamo genre. The band formed as a six-piece in late 1997 and broke up as an eight-piece in 2003; at their maximum capacity they performed with two singers, three guitarists, two bassists and a drummer and were known for their intense live shows.
Crossed Out was a powerviolence band from Encinitas, California. The band was active from early 1990 until late 1993. The group is considered to be a very important band that helped define powerviolence with a style that incorporated political lyrics, blast beats, and quick tempos. They have been named as the "dark lords of powerviolence" by Beau Beasley of Insect Warfare.
Discount was an American punk rock band based in Gainesville, Florida. The band originally formed in Vero Beach, Florida in 1995, but relocated to Gainesville in 1998. They performed their last show on August 19, 2000 at Market Street Pub in Gainesville, Florida. Members have gone on to form The Dead Weather, The Kills, The Kitchen, Black Cougar Shock Unit, Unitas, The Routineers, The Draft, Laserhead, Stolen Parts, Monikers, Young Ladies, and Blab School.
I Hate Myself was an American emo band formed by Jon and Jim Marburger in Gainesville, Florida, in 1996. The band used elements of post-hardcore and indie in their songs.
Damien Zev Moyal is an American vocalist, lyricist, musician, songwriter and designer. Originally from Amstelveen, North Holland, Netherlands, he moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Miami, Florida, where he notably fronted such hardcore punk, metallic hardcore and melodic hardcore bands as Shai Hulud, As Friends Rust, Morning Again, Culture, Bird of Ill Omen and Bridgeburne R. Moyal has been based in Ann Arbor, Michigan since 2006 and is the founding member of the semi-eponymously named gothic rock/post-punk band Damien Done.
Morning Again is an American metalcore band from Florida. They were known for their metallic sound as well as for their straight edge, vegan, anti-religious and anti-government ideals. The band was a "sister band" to Culture, often switching members after one had left the other. Several members went on to play in other bands such as As Friends Rust and Dead Blue Sky. The band was originally from Cooper City, Florida, but moved to Coral Springs in 1998 before breaking up later that year. After playing several reunion shows over the years, the band released a new EP in 2018.
Benümb was an American grindcore band from Millbrae, California.
Combatwoundedveteran was a grindcore/screamo band split between Ithaca, New York and Tampa, Florida. In their 7 years of existence they managed to put out several splits, including one with heavily influential screamo band Orchid, a 10" EP, one full-length album and a posthumous release that compiles nearly all their splits and early EPs. Though the band did not tour very often or put out many records their footprint is still visible in the screamo and powerviolence underground. The band was signed to famous Florida record label No Idea Records late in their career. Guitarist Chris Norris currently does graphic design under the name Steak Mtn. and has contributed artwork for releases by groups such as Atom And His Package, Orchid and Against Me!.
Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, formed in 2007. The band consists of vocalist Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Babin. Among other releases, they have released five studio albums: ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse in 2009, Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me in 2011, Is Survived By in 2013, Stage Four in 2016, and Lament in 2020.
This Is Medicine is the only studio album by American hardcore band Reversal Of Man, released on August 9, 1999 through Ebullition Records. Jeremy Bolm of Touché Amoré named the album as one of his favorites.
Enemy Soil was an American grindcore band from Sterling, Virginia, first formed in 1991. The band played a style of grindcore that was influenced heavily by hardcore punk, and featured many line-up changes throughout its run, with frontman Richard Johnson acting as its core. Because the group initially was unable to find a suitable drummer, earlier Enemy Soil recordings featured a drum machine. The group's music was also politically-motivated early in their career, however later recordings instead featured introspective topics for lyrics.
Jeremy Bolm is an American vocalist, record label owner, music producer and writer. In his music career, he is most known for being the full-time vocalist of the post-hardcore band Touché Amoré. He has also performed with the part-time bands Thriller, Deadhead and Hesitation Wounds. Outside of performing, Bolm runs the indie record label Secret Voice and self-publishes his own poetry zines.
Majority Rule is an American hardcore punk band from Northern Virginia, originally active between 1996 and 2004. Influential within the screamo subgenre, their releases include the studio albums Interviews with David Frost (2001) and Emergency Numbers (2003) and the split album Document #12 (2002) with Pg. 99. The band reunited in 2017, performing benefit shows with Pg. 99 and City of Caterpillar.
