1999: The State of Screamo

Screamo’s prominence within the Hardcore community rose significantly during this year with the release of several genre classics. Emoviolence had its statement year, but more melodic Screamo developments were occurring right in the background of this chaos. Conventions that would be utilized for many, many years to come were popularized by some of these legendary works. With many of Screamo's key figures now on the board, we will see exactly how the pieces fall. Below are notable releases from the year:

Snapshot

Screamo Hall of Fame Inductees:

Orchid - Chaos Is Me
Combatwoundedveteran - I Know a Girl Who Develops Crime Scene Photos

Screamo Hall of Fame Nominees:

I Have Dreams - Three Days ‘Til Christmas
Reversal of Man - This Is Medicine
Kulara - 5 Pieces Songs
Usurp Synapse - This Endless Breath
Saetia - Eronel
Neil Perry - Neil Perry
Yaphet Kotto - The Killer Was in the Government Sheets
You and I - The Curtain Falls

Connective Tissue:

Combatwoundedveteran / Orchid
Jeromes Dream / July
Index for Potential Suicide / Usurp Synapse
Joshua Fit For Battle / Love Lost but Not Forgotten
The Swarm / ForceFedGlass

Holy Grails:

Song of Zarathustra - Discography, Vol. 1

Additional Releases:

The Khayembii Communiqué - The Khayembii Communiqué
The Red Scare - Capillary Lockdown
Kamara - The Embrace of One Last Moviekiss-
Twelve Hour Turn - The Victory of Flight
Palatka - The End of Irony

Emoviolence Explodes!

Before 1999, Emoviolence was developed through bands like In/Humanity, Eurich, Encyclopedia of American Traitors, Kwisatz Haderach, Encyclopedia of American Traitors and others. Special shoutout to Reversal of Man and Combatwoundedveteran for building the genre in their own changing image for years. They each utilized various other Hardcore influences, including Powerviolence, Grindcore and Metalcore, and each sounded quite different as a result.

By the end of this year, certified hood classic Emoviolence had propelled the genre to new heights, in no small part thanks to releases from Orchid, Reversal of Man, CWV, Neil Perry and Usurp Synapse, with mention of Jeromes Dream, Love Lost But Not Forgotten and ForceFedGlass. With just one year as an officially-yet-ironically-titled genre, the release of all the aforementioned records made a giant impact on DIY hardcore and would lead to arguably the greatest span of time for this subgenre.

The Failure of Language

By 1999, a litany of topics became conventional to write lyrics about within the genre, including political issues, social commentary, personal misery and scene politics. Alas, Screamo by its very nature is a cathartic exercise of deeply negative human emotion, so it should be no surprise that a strong thematic undercurrent of these releases is the failure of language to express such intense sentiments adequately. Bands like Saetia, Combatwoundedveteran, Orchid, I Have Dreams, Usurp Synapse, Yaphet Kotto, You and I and even Kualara wrote about this to varying degrees.

In some instances, language fails to capture the feelings of despair and guilt, and the only true expressions are through raw human reactions. For others, language is commodified, used as a tool of violence and oppression, and is a barrier that isolates us from genuine connection. Can language really help process trauma? Is expression doomed to inauthenticity while language is only used for performance? These are indeed dreary outlooks and cynical philosophies, with perhaps the best way to truly encapsulate such ideas is to scream them with all your heart against dark, powerful sonic backdrops; where language fails, Screamo is there to bridge the gap.

Scene Spotlight: Gulf Coast Straight Edge

Emo has had its foot in the Straight Edge door from the very beginning. This should come as no surprise, as Ian MacKaye, famous for fronting both Minor Threat and Fugazi, coined Straight Edge as a philosophy before starting one of the first Emocore bands Embrace (but don’t tell Ian they were Emocore!). Much of the DIY hardcore scene in the D.C. area adhered to this lifestyle, which was quickly becoming a movement, but drugs would be an infamous inspiration for Emo artists outside of the 80s (e.g. Indian Summer, Cap’n Jazz).

Cue the arrival of several Screamo bands from the Gulf Coast of Florida, whose members started to follow the Straight Edge lifestyle. In Tampa, Combatwoundedveteran and Reversal of Man, two bands inextricably linked by their scene, shared members and musical stylings, featured straight edge members, while up toward the Panhandle, I Have Dreams (formerly New Ethic) was representing the SXE scene. Trudging up such devastating emotions with confessional or deeply-driven lyrics against a backdrop of chaos while rawdogging life? Kudos to them!

An Ode to the 90s…

What a fantastic first decade for this genre! I didn’t cover ‘91-’95 as extensively, but we had good releases each of those years and great ones for most of them. Everyone from Mohinder, Honeywell and Swing Kids to Orchid, Saetia and Envy came out with excellent, boundary-pushing Screamo music. From the rapid development from New Jersey’s “Hardcore Highway” to Emoviolence as a DIY phenomenon, the 90s are rightfully revered by the oldheads and new Screamo fans alike. Arguably, ‘96-’99 is the pinnacle of the genre. Well, that is until…

…A Song for the 00s

Are you surprised? The high tides of the Screamo genre would continue well into the 00s with many of the greats already in position. Early 00s legends like Jeromes Dream, Envy, pg.99, Love Lost but Not Forgotten and Majority Rule had already begun releasing material, and their stocks would only go up. Oh, and if you thought we were eating good with Emoviolence before, you won’t have to wait long to experience the epitome of the genre before Screamo would move into bold new directions.

1998: The State of Screamo

Screamo continued to be influenced by outside Hardcore forces in 1998, though the signature Screamo sound is becoming closer than ever. Although Saetia’s future-predicting self-titled album this year would eventually be worshipped by bands and fans alike, it was a relatively small-time release in the grand scheme of Tri-State Screamo at the time of release. Instead, the steady ramp-up of Emoviolence releases was reaching a fever-point this year, resulting in an eventual explosion as we move forward. Below are notable releases from throughout the year:

Snapshot:

Screamo Hall of Fame Inductee:

Saetia - Saetia

Screamo Hall of Fame Nominees:

ForceFedGlass - When Backs Are Turned, Knives Are Pulled
Combatwoundedveteran - What Flavor Is Your Death Squad Leader?
The Crimson Curse - Both Feet in the Grave
Orchid - Orchid
Envy - From Here to Eternity
Reversal of Man - Revolution Summer

Connective Tissue:

Amalgamation / Jeromes Dream
Orchid / Pig Destroyer
Encyclopedia of American Traitors / Kwisatz Haderach
Orchid / Encyclopedia of American Traitors

Holy Grails:

Stack / Jasemine / Disclose
Constatine Sankathi - Discography

Additional Releases:

New Ethic - Demo
My Lai - Learn…Forget…Re-Learn
Nintendo - Nintendo
2138 - 2138
Waifle - The Music Stops, The Man Dies
In/Humanity - Occultonomy
Index for Potential Suicide - Index for Potential Suicide
I, Robot - I, Robot

Touching on Technicality

1998 was a breakout year for advanced musicality in Screamo, best represented by Saetia’s Math Rock-infused classic s/t from this year. I wouldn’t call their earlier work “simple” by any means, but they reached an entirely new plane of existence with the introduction of uncommon time signatures and other intricate techniques. Similarly, ForceFedGlass imbued chaotic Emoviolence with Mathcore, with their technicality adding to the musical chaos. Other artists such as My Lai, Jeremin and Racebannon were also adding in various elements of advanced musicianship. These techniques would become more common in the genre as time went on.

Emoviolence Evolves

While I didn’t cover it, In/Humanity released their final EP entitled Occultonomy, officially coining Emoviolence as a style of music. While this was one of their more experimental releases, Emoviolence, in general, was becoming well-defined within Screamo and was poised to explode soon. However, bands like Orchid, Jeromes Dream, Combatwoundedveteran, Reversal of Man and even ForceFedGlass had already made mighty contributions by 1998, each bringing their unique charm to the budding subgenre. Dynamism, technicality, heaviness, rawness and brevity began to influence the direction of Emoviolence, which was “official” by this time.

Melodic Mysticism

Although Emoviolence would be the dominant brand of Screamo over the next couple of years, as evidenced by how drastically it’s taken form in the last couple of years. However, bands such as Saetia and Envy infused sweeping, gorgeous and atmospheric melodies into their dynamic harshness. This is not to say melody in Screamo was unheard of before 1998, though it less common and not focused on nearly as much, especially in the United States.

Cue Envy, an unapologetic band who did exactly what they wanted, when they wanted. After creating a melodic Screamo album with plenty of urgency in From Here to Eternity, they would go on to boycott all Japanese media and tour extensively in Europe and Southeast Asia. Their work would, in turn, be influenced by those respective scenes, which would result in more memorable and influential music. Seemingly, this international approach would lead to the somewhat distant future of the genre.

The Fuse Is Lit

Much like the last couple of years, Screamo as a genre was building itself up into a powderkeg. By 1998, we’d either seen formations of or early releases from legendary bands like Orchid, Jeromes Dream, Love Lost But Not Forgotten, pageninteynine, Joshua Fit for Battle, Majority Rule and The Spirit of Versailles, among others. Many of these artists were going to release their best and most legendary material in the next couple of years, which is not to mention that other returning acts like CWV, Reversal of Man, You and I and Envy, would also release their biggest-ever records in the same timeframe.

All of that doesn’t even touch upon the new bands that would form and contribute their mythos to the genre. Simply put, the fuse has been lit and, as we finish traveling through 1998, it’s about to activate detonation. 1998 is the last year we’re going to be able to cover within two weeks as 1999 (and especially beyond) will be littered with classic releases.

1997: The State of Screamo

During this year, Screamo continued to be experimented with and iterated upon by several influential artists in the genre, including Saetia. However, I can’t say that by this year, there was a universally-defined notion of what Screamo was or could be. Instead, several different subsects emerged: furious, uncontrollable Emoviolence and dissonant, dynamic Screamo. This is not to simplify the genre by any means, but those are generally the trends that we can observe. Here are the notable releases for the year:

Snapshot

Screamo Hall of Fame Inductee:

Saetia - Saetia

Screamo Hall of Fame Nominees:

Anomie - Anomie
Closure - Closure
In/Humanity - The History Behind the Mystery: Music to Kill Yourself To
Petit Printemps - Démo
You And I - Saturday’s Cab Ride Home

Connective Tissue:

His Hero Is Gone / Uranus
Enemy Soil / Reversal of Man
Stack / Carol
Peu être / Carther Matha / Rachel

Holy Grails:

Angel Hair - Pregnant With the Senior Class
Heroin - Heroin
Swing Kids - Discography\

Additional Releases:

Akephal - Akephal
Early Grace - And All I Run Into Are Walls You Have Built
Cattle Decapitation - Ten Torments of the Damned
Eurich - The Unified Field Theory
The Encyclopedia of American Traitors - The Encyclopedia of American Traitors

Mentioning Metalcore

Much like Screamo, Metalcore is a subgenre of Hardcore that developed in the early 90s and began taking hold on the Hardcore scene by 1997, even if the genres’ respective peaks weren't quite here yet. Despite this, several Metalcore icons had already left their stamp on the genre, such as Converge and Snapcase. It should come as no surprise that by 1997, there was some cross-pollination between the two, such as experimental German Metalcore bands Zorn and Mörser incorporating Screamo into their works and French Screamo outfit Anomie putting those sweet Metalcore riffs into their songs.

Arguably, the breakout band that synthesized the two genres into one beautiful creation was New Jersey’s own You And I. Their seminal album Saturday’s Cab Ride Home provided the perfect blueprint for this mixture with emotional intensity, technical guitarwork and endless energy. This particular concoction was a blueprint for many influential Screamo bands to iterate upon as we enter some of the most legendary times for both of these Hardcore offshoots.

Hardcore Ecosystem

Outside of Metalcore, 1997 showed us just how incorporated Screamo was to the Ecosystem of Hardcore music. The earliest Proto-Screamo did begin by taking elements from disparate Hardcore styles and uniquely merging them together, after all! Hardcore was still extremely niche in the late 90s, and the subgenres even more so. Frequent tours with other types of bands in the same ecosystem was common and the many splits released this year showcased the collaborative spirit of Hardcore. Powerviolence, Grindcore and Crust Punk were among the various influences on Screamo, demonstrating the genre’s ability to absorb and reinterpret these elements into its own unique world of brutality.

Celebrating San Diego

While compilations in Hardcore weren’t a novel concept, Screamo’s culture of preserving collections of obscure music and celebrating the greats of the past began early. In particular, San Diego-based labels Gravity Records and Three One G Records celebrated their seminal bands with several exhaustive compilation albums. Gravity’s Heroin was among the first bands to tread the hallowed ground of this genre, so a compilation for them was natural. Their drummer, Aaron Montaigne, would go on to form Antioch Arrow and truly define early Screamo and Sasscore. They also released a comp for Angel Hair who, while not based in SD, was very influenced by the sound.

Three One G and Swing Kids founder Justin Pearson released a Swing Kids discography this year, which is somewhat self-indulgent if you think about it but very well deserved for its wide-ranging impact. These compilations celebrate the contributions of SD and SD-adjacent bands, as well as the record labels that made them happen. We would see plenty of compilations in the future of this genre, but San Diego setting the tone with these three is appropriate.

The Pieces Are Falling

So far, we’ve seen Screamo influenced by a wide variety of genres, including Hardcore, Metalcore, Powerviolence, Grindcore, Post-Rock, Midwest Emo and others. The experimentation in just ~5 years has been tremendous, but the pieces are about to be put together for a truly cohesive sound. Saetia’s s/t release this year previews the future of the genre well, mostly because it’s molded in their image. However, Emoviolence was poised to explode, so the slower and more melodic side of Screamo was on the cusp of its own revolution.