emo is a recent term attached to the counterculture spawned by bands doing melodic punk with heartbreak undertones. nung wala pang emo, post-everything pa ang tawag dun. naging emo lang kasi medyo sobrang emotional ng pinaparating ng kanta.
as a guitarist/drummer, my gripe is that the licks seem repetitive, more of punk/hardcorized maiden licks. drumming is medyo repetitive din, punk influenced kasi masyado, and they most often utilize basic kits. basically for me emo is punk/hardcore/metal revamped to become politically correct. parang harcore na ginawang malamya o something.
sa ngayon, you cannot brand certain music as emo outright. pero ang basis ko for branding something emo ay sa lyrics. and the inflection of the vocals. like glam before, may sariling stilo ang emo vox, kinda sounding like a girl. but unlike the chino moreno sound, yung sa emo is more of a sissy girl sound, further emphasizing something tumultuous/heartbreaking (hearbraking ay di necessarily on the love side of things) in the lyrics.
alala ko dati sa nu metal, ang sigawan nasa chorus, ngayon naman sa ibang emo ang sigawan nasa verses tas ang chorus naging sing-along. gosh umikot na ng 180 ang mundo ng popular music.
emo is like a halfway house. medyo hardcore na medyo punk na medyo metal na medyo baklain... kaya minsan kakainis, parang mga gustong punk na mas punk na di masyado hardcore kasi wala namang plataporma at di masyado kayang maging metal kasi iba ang attitude.. hahay.
sabi pa ng mobb deep-- "son, they shook, coz there aint no such things as halfway crooks... " kung choy ka, diretso sa pagiging choy!