Picture this: You are me during my senior year of high school. You’re making the short bike ride from your emotionally draining job at a local pizza place. It is winter and pitch black at 8 p.m. You smell like undercooked breadsticks and are covered in pizza grease. After a long, isolating day of sitting alone in high school classes and being yelled at by managers that have it out for you, all you want to do is cry. So you pull your bike over in a park, climb to the top of the structure and scream your lungs out to “Your Graduation” by Modern Baseball. You have reached a level of catharsis that you did not think was possible.

I have had many moments like this in my life, and music has punctuated nearly every one. From the ends of friendships to transcendent concert experiences to the absolute terror that comes with growing up, each of the songs in this mixtape has a personal meaning of release. Many are emo and emo-adjacent, but there are dashes of metal and indie-folk present as well. While they all have stories behind them, these songs can punctuate your own intense moments as well — because everyone needs to scream once in a while.