Justin

The name of the genre “screamo” is kinda off-putting to a lot of people, because screamo is mislabeled a lot of the time. I normally wouldn’t even put forth the explanation of this, but it seems appropriate in this case, because I don’t want to seem so pretentious when I say that I really like “real” screamo. However, I don’t care nearly enough to use the word “skramz”, and I honestly don’t even know what even classifies bands as skramz. That word is stupid. I digress…

Pianos Become the Teeth - Fillial
These guys are kinda big, and they deserve it. They played in Bowling Green in a basement a couple years ago, and it was awesome.

Hot Cross - Lend Me Your Brain (I’m Building an Idiot)
Hot Cross is an older band. Features members of Saetia. The guitarist was known for being really good.

Et tu Brute - Zombies Avantgarde
This band was really good. They’re kinda well known (I’ve read) although they only put out a 4 song EP.

Off Minor - Killed for Less
Off Minor also has members of Saetia. They’re a really technical band for screamo. Sometimes it’s a bit much, but this song is really good.

Ampere - Woodlawn
Ampere is huge. This song has great lyrics about a loved one dying.

…Who Calls So Loud - What I learned at the C.O.U.M.
This is a super long song, and there are only about 4 lines worth of lyrics, but for some reason this song always sticks out to me. Also, I would suggest downloading their full length, it’s a lot better than the EP.

Jowls - Bastard Dressed in Sheep’s Clothes
Jowls is a two-piece from Michigan, and they’re pretty new. I heard about them because of their split with The Reptilian. Their songs are pretty short.

June Paik - Recherche
These guys are from Germany, I think. I don’t know much about them. I like this song, and it’s one of the shortest songs on the album, so I picked it.

We Were Skeletons - This Destroys Us
These guys rule. They’re all really good at their instruments, and the music is just really good. For some reason this song always stuck out on this album.

Saetia - Closed Hands
One of the most influential screamo bands of all time. I’m not big on all of their lyrics, but I really like theline from this song “With closed hands and open arms, hold nothing.”

Orchid - …And the Cat Turned into Smoke
Orchid features Will Killingsworth, who is also the guitarist of Ampere. These guys are also one of the most influential bands in screamo. Most of their songs are shorter than this one, and a lot less melodic, I guess.

Pg. 99 - Ruiner of Life
This is another of those huge screamo bands. They’re kind of hardcore and screamo mixed. They just reunited for a couple of fests, and released something.

Kidcrash - Parrots Just Don’t Understand
I’m not a big fan of funny song names, I’ll just go ahead and put that out there. Aside from that, these guys write really good, melodic screamo. Most of the songs on this album are a lot longer than this one. Also, if you’re just wanting to listen to screamo, be careful of the Kidcrash album(s) that you get, because they’re not all screamo.