Your way in
Screamo 1991
Emo pushed into hysteria: continuous screaming, cutting guitars and songs that collapse into silence. Also called skramz.
- Heaviness
- 6
- Speed
- 8
- Melody
- 5
- Where from
- San Diego, California
- Tempo
- 150-220 bpm
- Song length
- 1.5-4 min
- Written about
- Despair, Politics as personal experience, Collapse, Fragments rather than narratives
- Vocals
- Growled or shrieked
Why this one
| You said | Screamo | Match | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| A growl or a shriek When someone is singing, what should come out? | harsh | 100% | ×3 |
| Light How much weight do you want behind it? | 6 out of 10 | 60% | ×2 |
| As fast as anyone can play What pace? | 8 out of 10 | 80% | ×2 |
| The nineties Does it matter when it was made? | 1991 | 100% | ×1 |
| Anger at something real What should the words be about? | Despair, Politics as personal experience, Collapse, Fragments rather than narratives | 50% | ×1 |
| Something to hold on to Do you want a tune you could hum afterwards? | 5 out of 10 | 90% | ×1 |
| Weighted mean | 82% | ||
Ranked over all 150 genres in the encyclopedia, on the 6 answers you gave, weighted vocals 3, heaviness 2, pace 2, era 1, about 1, melody 1 out of 10. Screamo leads the next by 1 point. Where two genres score the same the broader one wins, because a genre with subgenres under it is somewhere to carry on from and a leaf is a full stop.
Five records, in this order
- 1Start one step outside
Sunny Day Real Estate, Diary 1994
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary. The bridge between DC hardcore and everything that followed.
- 2The one to put on first
City of Caterpillar, City of Caterpillar 2002
City of Caterpillar - And You're Wondering How a Fool Can Die. Post-rock catching fire.
- 3Then
- 4Then
- 5Then
The first is the entry point for Emo, one step outside, so the second record has something to be heard against. After it come Screamo's essential records in the order the encyclopedia lists them. Every one of these has a page here with links out to somewhere it can be played.
If that is not it
-
Mincecore 81%
Deliberately primitive grindcore with blunt political messages and thousands of appearances on split releases.
On the other branch of the tree entirely, and 9 steps from Screamo.
The way into Mincecore -
Powerviolence 78%
Hardcore taken to the limit: abrupt tempo shifts, twenty-second songs, blast beats cut with parts as slow as tar.
4 steps from Screamo, meeting it only at Hardcore punk.
The way into Powerviolence
Not simply the second and third of the ranking: those are almost always near neighbours of the first, which is three names for one suggestion. An alternate has to sit at least 4 steps through the tree from the headline and from the other alternate, which is the same floor the "sounds like this, but isn't" panel uses.
What your answers ruled out
- A growl or a shriek put 78 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Blues rock, Doom metal. Worth 3 of 10.
- Light put 12 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Death metal, Brutal death metal, Sludge metal. Worth 2 of 10.
- As fast as anyone can play put 4 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Doom metal, Drone metal, Funeral doom. Worth 2 of 10.
- The nineties put 23 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Blues rock, Progressive rock, Rock and roll. Worth 1 of 10.
- Anger at something real put 108 genres at the bottom of that one question, among them Alternative rock, Black metal, Blues rock. Worth 1 of 10.
Counted as genres scoring 20% or less on that answer alone. A recommendation that only shows what it chose is hiding half of what it did.