Screamo has always been divided, ostracized, and targeted by both people from outside the scene and people in the scene. What is emo? What isn't emo? Emos are corny (which is true). Everything about the scene is just polarizing and convoluted. It really isn't hard to tell who is, and who isn't, in the scene. I, alongside plenty of my internet mutuals, are big time gatekeepers. For me, it is because the screamo scene has given me some of my best friends, and also given me the music that has defined the formative years of my life. It has become a sacred thing for me at this point, beyond something that not everybody will understand. I am okay with that, because maybe it is a little unhealthy how much I love it, but I do. My favorite subgenre of screamo is emoviolence. A derivative of screamo and powerviolence, it consists of short, spazzy songs that tend to be around a minute or even less. The specific era of emoviolence that I gravitate towards is the late 2000's-mid 2010's, a time often forgotten about, when it was truly uncool to be making anything emo. Emo music had been commodified into the watered down, mallcore aesthetics that are more akin to metalcore than screamo. Emoviolence bands from that era that perfected the sound include Coma Regalia, Gas Up Yr Hearse!, and Virginia's own Kaoru Nagisa.
This leads me to something that has been bothering me as of late. Emoviolence songs don't have breakdowns, not in the way that a metalcore or hardcore song would. Yes the guitar tone is chuggy, but it is not an ignorant, slow breakdown like that of a Pennsylvania beatdown band. It is not meant to be moshed to at all really. Emoviolence's roots are spazzy, short bursts of chaotic energy, not some moshcore hardcore. Hardcore bros and emos are not the same, and the trend of screamo bands devolving into what is essentially just crappy hardcore bands with emo aesthetics is sad. People are turning their backs on their roots and spitting on them. Trends come and go, but it feels bad to see so many bands claim something I am passionate about, and not deliver whatsoever. Why should I have to lower my expectations when a new emoviolence band comes out? What was so good a decade ago has regressed into Neanderthalic moshcore. Maybe emoviolence is still just as uncool as it was a decade ago.
Nowadays, Instagram comments sections are always filled with discourse and complaints like mine, but it is important to be critical. As much as I wish for emoviolence nowadays to sound like my favorites, the sound could be dated to most, much like how people think the bedroom skramz sound is already dead (spoiler alert: it is not). At the end of it all, the scene is going to grow stronger and tighter, and hopefully emoviolence will return to its former glory, or maybe it will continue to just be a distant memory for most. I just hope not to get lost in the hating, because I want to continue to enjoy the music for what it is.
