The Black Halos

The worship of Johnny Thunders and his various bands seems to run in cycles. The late 1990s and early 2000s have seen a resurgence in bands obsessed with the near-dead, heroin chic look and trashy, loud, Glam-influenced rock 'n' roll largely created by Thunders. The Black Halos fit this bill to the letter. With their husky, too-many-cigarettes/too-much-booze vocals spitting and sneering live fast/die young lyrics, they get in your face and let you know who they are and where they're coming from right from the start. When the buzzing guitars -- drenched in distortion as thick as cigarette smoke in a Bowery bar -- come in with a lyrical quality of their own, you know just where they're going. Sure, this style of music keeps getting reinvented; it's not the most original in the world, but it's a trillion times better than any of the schlock being peddled on the radio these days.