Chris Evil & the Taints ‘Blackout’ review in The Noise
New Bedford’s Chris Evil & the Taints play a variety of hardcore punk that would have fit snuggly among the mid-’80s Taang! Records roster. They would not have been out of place on a bill with The F.U.s, The Freeze, and The Lemonheads. This reboot is a refreshing change of pace. While the Boston rock underground has been in the midst of a garage/psych revival and the alternative rock scene has been rediscovering the ’90s, this version of straight-ahead punked-up rock has been sadly neglected. Chris Evil & the Taints aim to fill that void. Though the range on these 11 tracks is fairly narrow, they hit on a whole variety of key touchstones. “Muscle of Love” brings to mind early Angry Samoans with a smidge less snottiness. “Baby Please Come Home” is pulled straight from Social Distortion’s Prison Bound-era catalog, with a dose of Alice Cooper mixed in for good measure.