New Streaming Japanese Screamo

Recent streaming releases from Oaktails, Fuyajoh, RiTTLEBOY, and Fall Of Tears

Like most underground music, the availability of Japanese Screamo on streaming services is spotty. It’s usually dependent on the record label or the band's aims as to if it is available. Bandcamp is a little ancillary to this, as you could argue for and against whether it should be considered a streaming service, but I won’t include it in this article.

Here are a few recent releases on streaming services from Japanese screamo bands. Many of these bands were new to me, and I find that’s mostly because they don’t all run in the same scenes as the bands I follow. Even the fact that they are on streaming services is outside of the norm for Japanese screamo.

Oaktails - What I Think / What I Love [2023]

Oaktails was a big surprise. I discovered them from a show they played with Alt Of The Society earlier in the month. While they typically stay in the mid-tempo, epic screamo range, they have some genuinely innovative parts (such as the first section of Your Scent). As a result, I’ve spun this album quite a few times and have them on my radar now.

RIFYL: To Overflow Evidence, Envy, Alt Of The Society

不夜城 (Fuyajoh) - Placenta [2023]

I heard of Fuyajoh when 3LA got their latest EP into the distro. These five songs truly rip. This is noisy, epic, melodic Japanese screamo at its best. The songs have a real direction, and despite owing a lot to early 2000s screamo, they seem to pull it together into something that feels new and fresh. The production plays well with different guitar tones you don’t normally hear in screamo (the high riff in Cloister). This kind of experimentation makes me excited about what the band does next.

RIFYL: Killie, Yarmulke, Envy, Cease Upon The Capitol

RiTTLEBOY - Isolation [2021]

Another group I found playing a show with Alt Of The Society and Oaktails. RiTTLEBOY released their debut in 2021 and plays an aggressive style of screamo that can border on emotional hardcore sometimes. There’s a little bit of everything for everyone in their songs, ranging from fast melodic parts with screamed vocals to swirly epic parts with spoken word. What I appreciate is that their music never shies away from hitting straight at that early 2000s Envy sound (intro to 最後に笑うのは). Bands aiming for more mainstream acceptance, as I assume RiTTLEBOY is, usually water down their music. That isn’t the case here.

RIFYL: Alt Of The Society, Envy, Shuly To 104kz

Fall Of Tears - Never Forget, Never Regret. [2022]

Fall Of Tears can be a bit confusing as you listen. They have definite post-rock songs that build to a screaming crescendo. But they also seem to release singles and songs that are purely almost “indie pop”. As a five-piece group, the post-rock screamo sound is likely their true incarnation, but the barrage of different-sounding releases is a little off-putting. This EP is pretty excellent from front to back, so I’m looking forward to a full album, hopefully soon. They introduce much more poppy and sentimental melodies into the post-rock screamo sound that provides a very different feeling.

RIFYL: Envy, Toe