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Screamo" is a music style that developed out of Emo, more specifically hardcore Emo, in the early 1990s. Characteristic of the genre are the screaming vocals (not growling). Other than that, it's fairly hard to classify (particularly since the rule about screaming vocals is bent fairly often). Sometimes also misreferred to as Emo Violence which is a closely related but not identical genre, though each genre borrow ideas from one another. The genre has seen some mainstream bastardization with bands such as Underoath, Hawthorne Heights and to a lesser extent; Taking Back Sunday. These bands aren't true screamo however.

Screamo bands play a thrashy brand of emo often featuring harmonizing guitar riffing and anguished vocal screams Because of its sheer speed and brutality, screamo bands often border on grindcore. Many screamo bands play a slower melodic breakdown in songs. Lyrically, screamo topics are often times introspective, although it is not uncommon to see a screamo band with political lyrics, an average screamo song uses imagery and metaphors to speak of lost love or failed friendships.

In recent years, the internet has helped spread word of screamo through websites and through online distros (distributions). Many fans of the genre have turned to EBay to expand their collections of rare and out-of-print records. This leads to very high prices on records that often cost a meager $10 or less when they were first released. Some members of bands who have broken up have expressed displeasure in these high prices and urge fans not to buy them, or buy a posthumously released discography instead.