"Skramz" is a (not entirely serious) tag intended to distinguish the first wave of screamo bands and groups who perform in their style from the second wave of screamo bands, who are often considered not to fit the same style, though the term "screamo" itself has a fairly nebulous definition.

While the genre was developing in the early 1990s, the term "screamo" was not used. Chris Taylor, lead vocalist for the band Pg. 99, said "we never liked that whole screamo thing. Even during our existence, we tried to venture away from the fashion and tell people, 'Hey, this is punk.'" Jonathan Dee of The New York Times wrote that the term "tends to bring a scornful laugh from the bands themselves." Lars Gotrich of NPR Music made the following comment on the matter:

“The screamo scene change a lot in the last 10 years. There used to be more creative bands like Circle Takes the Square and City of Caterpillar. And then it took this route where screamo got really streamlined and unrecognizable to the point where someone hilariously invented the term 'skramz' to distinguish the first wave of screamo bands.”

Allmusic has noted that the term "screamo" can sometimes be vague, and that even bands that weren’t necessarily screamo would often use the style's characteristic guttural vocal style. Derek Miller, guitarist for the band Poison the Well, noted the term's constant differing usages and jokingly stated that it "describes a thousand different genres." According to Jeff Mitchell of Iowa State Daily, "there is no set definition of what screamo sounds like but screaming over once deafeningly loud rocking noise and suddenly quiet, melodic guitar lines is a theme commonly affiliated with the genre." Bert McCracken, lead singer of The Used, stated that "screamo" is merely a term "for record companies to sell records and for record stores to categorize them."

Styles of music such as post-hardcore, metalcore, deathcore, death metal and black metal are often also mislabeled as "screamo" based on the assumption that any music with screamed vocals should be considered such. Juan Gabe, vocalist for the band Comadre, alleged that the term "has been kind of tainted in a way, especially in the States."

Modern bands in the genre include acts such as 44.caliberloveletter, loma prieta, massa nera and setsuko.