Lord Snow - Solitude (2013)

 

Genre: Emoviolence

Country: United States

I'm starting to believe that women may have a natural predisposition to be the best fucking screamo vocalists. Over the course of the this album Steph absolutely shreds her vocal chords, and her commitment and passion are a huge part in why this is one of my favorite screamo records. She jusst can't be stopped. Instrumentally, it's fucking great as well. It has the technical chaos powerviolence while still somehow remaining exceedingly melodic throughout. Even during the most aggressive parts and mathematical parts, the band seamlessly weave complex melodies through the fabric of the music. It's truly fantastic stuff. 

If you haven't heard this, you know nothing.

Heart on My Sleeve - "A Tale of Two Hearts" (2015)

 

Genre: Screamo

Country: Sweden

Heart on my Sleeve have unveiled a new song from their upcoming debut LP 

In the Midst of Hope and Nothingness called "A Tale of Two Hearts" and OH MY GOD, IT'S AMAZING! Honestly, that shouldn't be so surprising considering their spotless track record, but this song is on a whole other level. It features guest singer Arvid, who does an amazing job. His vocals are some of the most sincere I've come across in the genre. Working in tandem with Ina's passionate, broken scream, the combination is just absolutely stunning. Musically, it reminds me a lot of  Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair-era La Dispute. It bursts at the seams with razor-blade power riffs and dials it back to twinkling ambiance when appropriate. It's the culmination of everything the band has been working towards since Blood Is Not Thicker Than Wine. Amazing.

Here is a little about the song's theme by the band: 

”A Tale Of Two Hearts” was the last song we wrote for the album.
Kalle and Gabriel wrote the guitars one night at Kalle´s home with the help of a couple of beers. Later they took the idea to the rehersal room and finished it with the rest of the band.
We had discussed taking in a guest singer for the record for quite some time and we had played with ”Vi som älskade varandra så mycket” a couple of times and they had become friends. We decided to ask Arvid (the singer) if he wanted to do this with us and luckily he agreed. In the early spring, Arvid and Ina sat down to write the lyrics together. They wanted to make it into a narrated story and decided to make it into a love song. ”A Tale Of Two Hearts” is about two people in a relationship, or more like, on their way out of a relationship. It´s about how their different backgrounds and personalities make it hard for them to make it work because one person wants to stay close, while the other person feels threaten by the intimacy."

 Listen Here

Deafheaven - Sunbather (2013)

Genre: Black Metal/Shoegaze/Screamo
Country: United States

 The opening of "The Pecan Tree" leaves me in awe every time I listen to it. The best way it can be described, is a violent euphoria. I can feel it throughout my body; the tingling of my skin, the breathlessness in my chest. I get lost. Lost in the shuddering guitars, the warm smile of the melodies. Lost in a place only Deafheaven can take me. For thirteen minutes, I'm outside of myself, wandering dandelion-filled fields on the most beautiful day spring can offer. That's why I love Deafheaven; that's why I love Sunbather.

It's an album full of these kind of moments. When I listen to the title track, I want nothing more than to lay my head on a tree, and watch as the branches sway back and forth, sunlight piercing through the leafy canvas. For a song that is just as rooted in black metal as it is shoegaze, it is, at times, surprisingly laid back. Sure, there are moments of harshness - halfway through the song its weightless shoegazing melodies fall out of the sky into a pit of cacophonous blastbeat driven black metal - but here, even the cruelty of BM can't stop the album's ecstatic beauty from eventually shining through once more. "Dream House" and "Vertigo" offer more the same; jet-black walls of noise, painted with brushstrokes of shimmering guitars, both dark and beautiful. It's an album that thrives on contrasts.

Deafheaven have crafted a record that shares their inspirations and aspirations all at once. You'll get a pangs of My Blood Valentine and hints of Weakling all within the same breadth; it's a collage of influences that adds up to be a sum greater than its parts. With that in mind, I come back to "The Pecan Tree". That violent euphoria encapsulates the spirit of the band like no other track on Sunbather.  It's lush and gorgeous like shoegaze, grandiose and aggressive like black metal, and sincere like screamo; yet, it is none of these things. It's immediately recognizable and completely unmistakable  -that's why it's the perfect closer. As the album fades into blissful obscurity, it gently whispers three words into your ear; "This is Deafheaven."

Dream On

Heart on my Sleeve - "This Failure is Not on Me" (2015)

Genre: Screamo
Country: Sweden

First things first: JUST LOOK AT THAT ALBUM ARTWORK. It's absolutely gorgeous. Even if I didn't know that this band was awesome, I would be enticed to check it out purely from that standpoint. Also, there is something just so "screamo" about it, which I love.

Anyway, for a teensy history lesson, Heart on My Sleeve is a band formed from the ashes of my favorite screamo act of all time, The Hope and the Failure. Their first release Blood is Not Thicker Than Wine was a good, heartfelt, if not standard display of screamo/melodic hardcore. Since then, the band has become increasingly better, slowly adding post-rock elements into their passion-fueled outbursts.

This brings us to "This Failure is Not on Me", a track released from their upcoming debut full-length In The Midst of Here and Nothingness. The song contains every trait that the band has become known for these past few years; twangy, clean guitar riffs, spoken word passages backed by post-rock instrumentation, and cathartic, overdriven escapades. It's an excellent, memorable track and definitely has me psyched for the whole album; hopefully it does the same for you too.

ALSO ALL THEIR SHIT IS FREE

Guidelines - Guidelines (2012)

Genre: Screamo
Country: United States

Guidelines' self-titled EP is one of my favorite screamo releases ever. In four relatively succinct tracks, the band encapsulates everything I love about the genre; impassioned vocals (thanks to two singers!), beautiful clean interludes, and a sense of catharsis during their more visceral moments. "Visceral" is hardly a word I would choose to describe most screamo, but the croaked vocals along with the coarse, fuzzed out production definitely helps the word find a home here. Definitely recommended for its brevity and quality.

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Corea - Los peores 7 peores Km de mi vida (2004)

Genre: Screamo, Post Rock
Country: Spain

In all honesty, the whole screamo/post rock hardly does anything for me anymore. Only a few bands out there are able to capture the same spirit and vibe of earlier screamo and balance it out with emotive post rock. Every other band starts to sound like watered down post rock coupled with uninteresting and weak screamo. Corea seems to be the exception to this rule because they're able to really emulate the violent and rough aspect of screamo while being able to add post rock/ambient interludes to provide atmosphere and emotions in a different way. This sounds really rough around the edges so if you really enjoy the more violent side of screamo/post rock, then check this out.

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Usurp Synapse / Hassan I Sabbah - Just Do It! (2000)

Genre: Screamo
Country: United States

If it wasn't clear already with its tongue-in-cheek title and artwork, this short split is about suicide. It seems sort of ridiculous, especially when listening to the beginning of some of the Usurp Synapse songs, but it can be forgiven when you realize how intense and raw both bands can get. There is some feeling of catharsis within these songs that really give that feeling of despair and kind of give the feeling of the artwork and title (in other words, suicide). Perhaps one of the best splits in the genre.

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Cara Neir - The Overwatch (2014)

Genre: Black Metal/Hardcore/Screamo
Country: United States

Cara Neir are easily one of my favorite bands of the past few years. Watching them develop their style has been a joy, not only because they are consistently amazing, but also unpredictable. Stagnant Perceptions was black metal with a screamo twist. Portals To A Better, Dead World was screamo with a black metal twist. Sublimation Therapy explored hardcore and all of its variants, and their splits usually fall into the "post-black metal" category, featuring some heavy shoegaze influences. The Overwatch combines the black metal/screamo style of their full-lengths with the brevity and pure aggression of Sublimation Therapy. It's gr1m and hxc all at once; the cohesion between the different styles is as fluid as always. Definitely not something to sleep on.

Portals to Sublimation Therapy

I Was A Cosmonaut Hero - MMXIII (2014)

Genre: Screamo, Post Rock
Country: France

Another screamo/post rock hybrid from France featuring members from Gantz and Daitro. Songs at longest go as long as 7 minutes so it never really drags at points. Musically, it sounds just like a bunch of other screamo/post rock bands (perhaps most like Envy) but it's done well and isn't completely derivative of the members' past work. Rather it sounds like an extension of it. Chords progressions sound triumphant and the screams sounds passionate. A definite listen for those looking for this type of screamo from this year.

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Cortez - Phoebus (2013)

Genre: Post-Metal, Screamo, Hardcore
Country: Switzerland

It's a little hard to pin these guys down into a genre but really those genre tags should suffice for now. Regardless, this is one hell of a record that kind of reminds me of Amia Venera Landscape with a more atmospheric approach to it and less metalcore. It sounds incredibly intense and it's well produced as well. Plus these guys are on Throatruiner so you know it has to be intense.

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Kulara - Fragmental Remembrance, a Switch of Resurrection, and My Hearing Vanished (2001)

Genre: Screamo, Experimental, Post Rock, Psychedelic
Country: Japan

I guess it should be no surprise that a really strange and experimental take on screamo comes from Japan. At times you can hear the traditional post rock/screamo similar to Envy and then they throw you off by adding some psychedelic, jazzy or whatever else genre they feel like adding. Don't go into this expecting some progressive psychedelic screamo like Gospel's The Moon is A Dead World because this is a completely different and intriguing beast of its own.

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Majority Rule - Interviews with Majority Rule (2001)

Genre: Screamo
Country: United States

These guys seem to be overlooked in the realm of screamo despite doing a split with Pg. 99. This album is definitely superior to that split since Majority Rule go all out with brute force using massive riffs at a breakneck pace and knowing when to slow it down at the right times. It shouldn't be forgotten that the vocalist is one of the best in its genre with his passionate and high pitched screams.

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Burned Out Bright - Burned Out Bright (2004)

Genre: Screamo
Country: United States

If John Galm of Snowing were to front a screamo band, it would probably be this band only because he screams like him during Fuck Your Emotional Bullshit-era Snowing and it has a couple of twinkly riffs and some post rock leanings here and there. The style of screamo played is similar to Saetia's style meaning that they play more off the sad sack of shit kind rather than the violent kind with lo-fi production. Short and sweet and devoid of bullshit in its short run-time so check it out!

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Einna - Les Angoisses d'Arcadie EP (2008)

Genre: Screamo/Post Metal
Country: France

I'm somewhat iffy on the genres, but that doesn't stop this from feeling massive as fuck. Einna creates towering post-metal atmospheres, some of the best drumming you'll ever hear in any genre, and screamo-like guitar playing. France does in fact produce some of the best screamo out there.

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49 Morphines - Partial Eclipse (2008)

Genre: Screamo/Post-Rock
Country: South Korea

This is basically the South Korean equivalent to Japan's widely known screamo/post-rock hybrid Envy. They aren't as good as Envy obviously but they definitely do their style of screamo justice while focusing a little more on their post rock influences. Not much to say other than if you like Envy, you'll enjoy this.

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Québec - Together We Have Grown, Together We Shall Bloom (2007)

Genre: Screamo/Post-Rock
Country: Australia

If you ever wanted to hear screamo with a saxophone for some odd reason, this is the album to hear it. It may seem like a gimmick, but these guys definitely make it work. On the few tracks that it's on, the saxophone adds more beauty and melancholy to the instrumental/post rock portions and maybe even make it a little jazzy. The saxophone shouldn't be the selling point though; these boys craft some of the best screamo songs you'll hear through spectacular songwriting through post rock climaxes and jazzy math rock breaks and melodies. If anything off this is worth checking, it would be the last song off this. If you dug that, check it the rest out!

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La Bella - Recomposition (2012)

Genre: Screamo
Country: United States

La Bella is one of the more interesting bands I've come across. On Recompositions, La Bella deliver seven tracks of jazzy and Latin influenced screamo worth raving about. Their influences integrate naturally with their brand of screamo in the sense that their influences don't stick out and feel out of place which leads to interesting chord progressions, riffs, and thumping bass lines. Each instrument has a chance to stand out whether when they play at a breakneck pace or when they decide to slow it down showing off their songwriting skills. Definitely worth a listen.

Name-Your-Price on Bandcamp

Guidelines - Guidelines EP

Genre: Screamo
Country: United States

One of my favorite all-time screamo releases. These guys have a way of being both incredibly dirty and insanely pretty at the same time. Some of the melodies these guys create just twinkle out this fucking world. Not only that, but the filthy production definitely adds dimension to their odd style of spastic riffage. Oh and did I mention they have two vocalists? Cause they do, and the way they play off each adds such an exciting element to this release. Get this.

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