Howl At The Moon - How Screamo Stole The 2010s
Any hack journalist working in the arts sphere can get a few thousand clicks by writing a “rock is dead” piece, because the kids are all listening to Playboi Carti now, and dad rock no longer reigns supreme on the airwaves. While it is true that the current genres favoured by the zeitgeist at the moment are guitar free for the most part, this take fails to consider one significant factor: extreme music has been having a great time. The Internet may have destroyed the ability of bands to make money solely off their music, but its ability to connect listeners across the globe made it far easier for bands to find audiences. You weren’t tied to geographical location or needing a big label to do your distribution for you when it could all be put online. As the commercial side of heavy music withered in artistic and commercial terms, the artists on the extreme side stuck to their guns and pushed themselves further to make great art and they did win in the end. Look at how Deafheaven’s Sunbather is on nearly every best of the decade list. Look at how a nasty hardcore band from Pittsburgh called Code Orange could get a Grammy nomination. Look at how the indie publications who sneered at heavy music before will chuck Blood Incantation’s record on their end of year lists now (it’s well deserved, by the way). The outsiders didn’t need to appeal to the mainstream, it came to them. In small ways, we’re not seeing Full Of Hell doing talk show gigs, but it is a far better time to be making hard, uncompromising, challenging music than it ever has been.
Which brings us to the case of screamo. An oft bastardised term thrown at any music with harsh vocals, here I’m referring to a genre of hardcore punk. Hardcore in the 80s decided to get more introspective and more melodic, and thus emo was born (though the creators disdain that term, but let’s be real — most musical movements have hated their initial label). Add indie to the mix in the 90s and we get second wave emo. Add a lot more pop appeal in the 2000s and we get what most people call emo (there’s the emo revival of the 2010s where people drew more on that second wave sound but that’s a contentious issue). What screamo did in the 90s was take that original emo impulse and add the hardcore back to it. You had bands like Saetia, who are perhaps the most straightforward example of what this sounds like, delicate mournful guitar leads that give way to crashing waves of distortion and throat shredding vocals. You had bands like Orchid, who added a chaotic, dense, grindy edge. You had bands like City Of Caterpillar, who must get props for taking a progressive, freewheeling approach to the genre, and making it a key touchstone, rather than a genre outlier. It always remained an outsider genre though. It’s far too light and delicate to fit into the hardcore milieu entirely, and far too nasty and abrasive to fit alongside the indie bands who’s lead lines had a passing similarity. For the most part, the lyrics were far too inscrutable to become the scripture of hormonal teens, if you could make them out in the first place. Yet it never died unlike many other genres. Perhaps because it never had its moment in the sun, it never made people sick of it through overexposure. Perhaps because nobody was making any money from it, and bands would tap out after a couple of albums, the artistic spirit never faded away from it. There have been outliers — Envy from Japan do reasonably well commercially but they make a very beautiful, post rock indebted take on the sound. The old bands who defined the genre have views in the hundreds of thousands on YouTube, but that’s the case for most genres. Perhaps in such turbulent times, the frantic, emotionally fraught sounds resonate more so than in previous years. Whatever the reason may be, it’s made it to the 2010s to produce some of the best guitar music of this decade.
“Stole the 2010s” is editorial hyperbole on my part — it sounds a lot more exciting than “is able to do more bits than before”. Additionally, from talking to people who put on shows, it hasn’t manifested in greater attendance. However, one cannot deny the progress the genre made. It has survived to the 2010s to see a strong influence on much of the bands tied to the emo revival, be they Touché Amoré or a Midwest emo band that throws the odd scream in there. It’s survived to see bands picked up by respectable labels, bastions of the underground, be they Wristmeetrazor being signed to Prosthetic or Frail Body being picked up by Deathwish. Bands from this scene are getting on bigger tours than before, like Birds In Row going out with Alcest or Portrayal Of Guilt going out with Deafheaven. It’s meant that screamo bands have made it into lists like this Kerrang list of the best American hardcore bands, opening these bands up to a new audience as well as showing that this is a genre to take seriously.
The Internet may give one an inflated sense of the genre’s importance, one I have fallen prey to, but there’s no denying that it’s been of great aid to the genre. Bandcamp allows you to support bands directly through purchasing their music and merch, meaning the old geographical barriers are far less of an issue. With communities like the Facebook group “skramcave”, and blogs like Sophie’s Floorboard and We Don’t Need Maps, it’s never been easier to both connect with the past and stay plugged into the present, a fact which has made releases from this generation be spoken of in the same way as hallowed classics of the genre. Screamo in the 2010s is a brilliant mix of styles and approaches, a mix I hope to capture with these seven albums, EP and split EP. This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, and I’m sure many would come for my throat for not including a particular album. These are just some really good records that show off what this sound can do, and hopefully inspire you to dig deeper into the sound.
I Hate Sex: Circle Thinking
Sadly departed now, Edmonton, Canada’s own I Hate Sex set a fire under the belly of the scene with their debut EP in 2015. They favour a very straightforward approach to the style, all sharp piercing guitar leads, tortured vocals, and some surprisingly strong hooks, especially on “One By Metallica” and “I Fucking Hate Sports”. Yet they can deliver mournful soundscapes too, as heard on “San Francisco”. An essential release for anyone just getting into the style, especially as it’s a quite user friendly iteration of the sound.
Portrayal Of Guilt: Let Pain Be Your Guide
My album of the year in 2018 and my personal favourite album from the current wave of screamo, Let Pain Be Your Guide is an absolute rager. Only 22 minutes long, it blends the harshest, most metallic side of screamo, the dark majesty of black metal, the straight up fury of hardcore and suffocating industrial textures into one genuinely destructive whole. From the opening clangs of “Daymare” to the closing screams of “Until We’re Dust”, this album drags you through the dregs of human suffering, always dynamic with no element outstaying its welcome. A true landmark for the genre.
Ostraca: Last
Ostraca’s MO is pretty straightforward: sonic desperation, delivered through dense punishing walls of distortion and drawn out, melancholy post-rock. Yet despite this lack of originality, it never feels like it’s ripping any band off, and most importantly, it fucking rips. “Worn Away” shows off best what this band can do, with it’s crushing emoviolence attack wedded to heartbreaking melancholy. Beautiful and violent at the same time, Last is a true masterpiece of the genre, an excellent example of how dynamic screamo can be.
Soul Glo: Untitled LP
Soul Glo are perhaps the most experimental band on this list, drawing on noise and hip hop as well as the furiously political blastings of bands like Orchid and Yaphett Kotto. Their approach is deft and nuanced, being able to switch up styles at the drop of a hat while never losing their vicious edge. The chaotic, confrontational nature of their sound is mirrored with their lyrics, defiantly pro-black and anti-capitalist in a scene that’s still largely white dominated, despite recent strides being made. Definitely one of the most important records to come out of the scene, and indeed an important record for music in general.
Foxtails: querida hija
Foxtails operate in an interesting position in the screamo scene, their mathy leanings position them quite close to the Midwest emo revival set, yet their ability to throw down and get nasty means you won’t mistake them for any old Glocca Marra imitators. Megan Cadena-Fernández is one of the most gifted vocalists in screamo, able to go from haunting beauty to demonic screeching. The rest of the band are no slouches either, taking their jazz training and turning in some of the most intricate, technical, beautiful and destructive screamo to be released this year.
Lord Snow: Solitude
Like Foxtails, Lord Snow are a band on the mathy side. However, where Foxtails lean on jazz and Midwest emo, Lord Snow have more in common with a band like Converge. Lord Snow take the ideas of “dense” and “technical” and push them further than most bands are willing to touch. Beneath the almost black metal shredding lie some of the most complex rhythms to come out of the genre, putting it closer to mathcore. Raw yet sophisticated, this is an essential listen from the heavier side of the genre.
Massa Nera: Los Pensamientos De Una Cara Palida
Massa Nera tread on similar ground to Ostraca, though their attack is a far more sophisticated one, drawing on the complex dynamism of a band like City Of Caterpillar rather than a blunt force noise quiet noise approach. It’s a very varied and intricate record, from the jazz break on “Provisional Euphoria (J’ai Une âme Solitaire)” to the almost death metal inspired growls on “Carrying A Coffin”. It’s seven tracks of the finest dark and heavy screamo, a must for anyone looking to get into the genre
Infant Island: Infant Island
Since releasing their debut album in 2018, Infant Island have become one of the hottest bands in the scene, and for good reason too. Their take on screamo is a far more beautiful one than the previous examples on the list, drawing on shoegaze and post rock as well as bands who’ve walked this path before like Envy. The shimmering waves of noise coupled with harsh roars and a real sense of urgency combine to make this one of the most thrilling examples of contemporary screamo.
For Your Health/Shin Guard: Death Of Spring
The split EP is a key cornerstone of emo, with the favourite songs of many fans occurring on these releases. I’ve decided to include 2019’s best split by two of the most promising bands in the scene, For Your Health and Shin Guard, who both released full lengths this year well worth investigating too. Both bands favour a dark, dissonant, jagged and quite metallic approach to screamo, with For Your Health being more chaotic and Shin Guard being less afraid to throw out stirring leads amongst the maelstrom of noise.
by Malachai Shine
