This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
For a second, I was surprised to see a MAPL logo on the back cover of this CD — I always forget that The Black Halos are Canadian.
Maybe it’s because these Vancouver glam-punks spend most of their time touring the U.S. Or maybe it’s the fact that unlike so much Canadian so-called rock, these guys actually RAWK! Leather pants and skull tattoos, Marshall stacks and punk hairdos — these are a few of the Halos’ favourite things. And after just a single listen to their incendiary sophomore album Violent Years, I suspect it will soon be one of your favourite things. Between the chugging Johnny Thunders guitar licks of Rich Jones and Jay Millette, and the sneering Stiv Bators vocals of Billy Hopeless, these boys channel all the guttersnipe sleaze and skid-row chic of The Dead Boys and The New York Dolls. On top of that, they wield some switchblade-sharp songwriting chops — as displayed on pumping anthems like Some Things Never Fall and Last of the 1%ers. And they’re CanCon! If these guys don’t get nominated for a Juno for this, I call shenanigans.
