Originally Posted by pixiesfanyo

This thread has only consisted of people saying Off Minor is really good and GO LISTEN TO GOSPEL.

Basically, I'll help break it down..

If you want to get a relatively strong grasp on what the emo/screamo genre is actually about I'd say go back to the original few bands that started it and grab a few albums by them. This would include stuff like:

Influences:
Essentially the influences of the emo/screamo were post-hardcore bands that while sounding similar are more focused on adding a extreme melodic sound to their music.
Good early post-hardcore records are pretty well renowned records like:
Embrace - Embrace
Fugazi - 13 Songs
Drive Like Jehu - S/T

All of these post hardcore records essentially capture the sonic half of "emotional hardcore" but the blistering vocals that Guy would make present with Rites of Spring would be far off the radar of most post-hardcore bands. "1st Wave Emo" can be explored with such bands as..

Rites of Spring - End on End
Gray Matter - Take it Back
Rain - La Vache Qui Rit

After the initial D.C. wave, we have a couple of bands that start taking up the blossoming ideas of the post-rock and math rock genres and add them to emo.. therefore making some kind of dynamically effective "emotional hardcore". City of Caterpillar was basically biting alot of these bands when they released their classic LP.

Moss Icon - Lyburnum
Indian Summer - Discography
Maximillian Colby - Discography

Also during the early '90s "emotional hardcore" started making strong pushes into extremely aggressive hardcore almost similar to power violence but really not as sludgy. Bands that really pushed for this include..

Navio Forge - As We Quietly Burn A Hole Into
Policy of 3 - Dead Dog Summer
Guyver One - S/T 7"

Finally the rise of the midwest scene was another effect of the early '90s with bands like Cap'n Jazz fusing a heavy melodic sound with the aggression of the "emotional hardcore" scene.

Cap'n Jazz - Analphabetapolothology
Boys Life - Boys Life
Ethel Meserve - The Milton Abandonment

After these initial splitting of ideas we have the aggressive sounds of Navio Forge and such start paving way for the entire gravity records sound which consists of bands like..

Heroin - Heroin
Swing Kids - Discography
Angel Hair - Pregnant with the Senior Class

From these gravity records bands come the "internet sauvy" bands or essentially most of the bands that have helped really make "emotional hardcore" popular.

Orchid - Chaos is Me
Saetia - Discography
Jerome's Dream - Discography

Once again you have bands building on the genre that Orchid and Saetia have laid out and making it even more eclectic. City of Caterpillar brings back the post-rock influence of old and uses GYBE as the template. Where as Hot Cross starts expanding the vocabulary of what emo can be.

City of Caterpillar - City of Caterpillar
Hot Cross - Cyronics
Gospel - The Moon is a Dead World

Finally the emerging european sound steals from Envy's strong post-rock/post-hardcore backing and merges it with the aggressiveness of emotional hardcore.

Daitro - Laisser vivre les squelettes
Sed Non Satiata - Le ciel de notre enfance
Mihai Edrisch - Un Jour Sans Lendemain

thats basically it.