A subgenre of emotive hardcore and indie rock that formed in the 90's. Screamo isn't mainstream and you will not hear any screamo bands played on the TV or radio.

Some real screamo bands are Orchid, Pg.99, Circle Takes The Sqaure, City of a Caterpillar, Piano Come The Teeth, Saetia, Anomie, Portraits of Past, I Would Set Myself On Fire For You, Indian Summer and The Saddest Landscape.

Screamo is often a term used for bands like Bring Me The Horizon, Asking Alexandria, Pierce The Veil, Escape The Fate, Falling In Reverse, Sleeping With Sirens or any other band that has used the technique in their songs. Anybody who says these bands are screamo is wrong, they are post-hardcore or metalcore.

They're part of the metal mainstream.
Screamo fan 1: Did you listen to Pg.99's new album?

Screamo fan 2: Yeah, they're amazing. Such meaningful lyrics.
by DeadDeathrocker April 21, 2012
Get the Screamo mug.
Generally the term Screamo refers to a branch of hardcore popularised in the 1990's by bands such as City of Caterpillar, Envy, Orchid, Saetia et al. Often features dischordant riffs, high-pitched screams, some spoken-word vocals (Saetia were known to utilize this technique quite often), and quite often the recordings were very lo-fi, and grainy.

However the term has been heavily popularised by MTV as a reference to the pop-punk/emo bands of the new century (Finch, Story of the Year etc).
Saetia, Angel Hair, After School Knife Fight, Joshua Fit for Battle, City of Caterpillar, Neil Perry...most of the bands on Level Plane Records.
by Will March 5, 2005
Get the screamo mug.
A word used by dumb asses that have no knowledge or education of metal or it's sub-genres. Used to describe any band that uses harsh vocals with fast or heavy metal music.
Dumbass - "What kind of music are you into?"
Me - "Mostly Deathcore and Death Metal, bands like Oceano, Thy Art is Murder, and Dying Fetus."
Dumbass - "Oh so that screamo shit."
Me - "No."
by S o o p a October 13, 2018
Get the Screamo mug.
Screamo is a genre of music which predominantly evolved from hardcore punk, among other genres, in the early 1990s. The term "screamo" was initially applied to a more aggressive offshoot of emo that developed in San Diego in 1991, which used short, chaotically executed songs which grafted "spastic intensity to willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics,"4 often with a political message. In the early 2000s, the genre name began to describe a different, slower and less dissonant style that borrowed from alternative rock. The term's application to the "second wave" is controversial among fans and practitioners of the earlier style.5 One musician observed that the term "has been kind of tainted in a way, especially in the States".
Screamo Bands : Antioch Arrow, Portraits of Past, Saetia, Hot Cross, Ampere, Funeral Diner, Orchid, etc.
by isthisreallyfuckinghappening? February 28, 2009
Get the Screamo mug.
screamo is a term that refers to recent bands that play old style emo. Most pinpoint the first use of the term to Saetia. When the media started to label pop punk and indie rock bands emo, people needed a new word to describe the style of music that used to be characterized with emo. Some say screamo is a little more artsy and pretentious than older emo, but that's arguable.
saetia, orchid, the spirit of versailles, neil perry, joshua fit for battle, yaphet kotto, most bands on ebullition and level-plane records
by vicktor January 1, 2004
Get the screamo mug.
Subdivision of emo and hardcore, generally having more similarities to hardcore in terms of instrumentals, but lyrics are closer to emo. Screamed or spoken-word vocals, laden over soft, proggy riffs or crashing metal madness, more the latter. Mostly dead by now, as the genre was already heavily explored in the 90's by bands such as Hot Cross, Saetia and Orchid.

Most modern (post-2000, really) bands referred to as screamo are either emocore, such as Alexisonfire and Thursday, or mall punks wearing eyeliner and trying to be scary, such as The Used and My Chemical Romance. Derision should not be layed against such mall punk bands, however, as they still have enough balls to wreck their vocal chords while singing about how they're just kids and thier lives are nightmares.
"Man, this Level-Plane screamo stuff is way too hardcore for my ears. But hot damn, those are some cool riffs." CORRECT

"The Used is a great screamo band." INCORRECT
by El Gordo July 4, 2005
Get the screamo mug.
the art of molesting your vocal chords
I love trying to sing with screamo music.
by LAWLZlame October 25, 2006
Get the screamo mug.