What is "screamo"

n. 1 (context music English) A genre of aggressive lo-fi guitar driven music with predominantly screaming vocals, while preserving structural aspects of the emocore/hardcore emo genres of the early 1990's. 2 (context music English) A genre of guitar driven music sometimes referred to as posthardcore, combining late 1990's emo indie rock with interludes of screaming vocals, often accompanied by hardcore or metalcore guitar riffs. 3 (context music English) Any punk rock inspired music that involves screaming vocals, typically referring to the genres described above as well as certain subgenres of hardcore punk.

Screamo (also known as skramz) is a subgenre of emo that began in the early 1990s as a more aggressive style of the genre using short songs that grafted "intensity to willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics." It is characterised by a stronger influence from hardcore punk and the use of screamed vocals. Lyrical themes usually include emotional pain, romantic interest, politics, and human rights.

The term "screamo" is complicated in usage, and many bands object to the label. The vocal style it describes is not clearly defined and even some bands using a guttural vocal style can be considered screamo. Screamo has been applied to various genres, including powerviolence and post-hardcore. Several styles are rooted in screamo, including: emoviolence, which combines screamo with powerviolence; crunkcore, a style of crunk employing the vocal technique of screamo; screamo influenced by grindcore; and Nintendocore rooted in screamo.