Little Villains - 2022 - Battle of Britain

(35:05; Spira Records)

Track list:
1. Messerschmitt 3:40
2. Crying Out for More 3:10
3. Butcher Bird 3:15
4. Mush 2:52
5. In His Blood 3:49
6. Words of Insanity 4:20
7. Boy Next-Door 1:52
8. The Last 4:06
9. Watching You 2:27
10. Spitfire 5:34

Line-up:
James Childs - vocals, bass
Owen Childs - guitars, vocals
Chris Fielden - drums, vocals
with:
Nick Davidge - guitars, vocals
Simon Hedges - bass


UK band Little Villains have a past that goes back to 2006, and former Motorhead drummer Phil Taylor was a part of the band in those early days. Taylor has since passed away, but Little Villains have continued being an active entity and have a total of four studio albums to their name at this stage. "Battle of Britain" is the name of their most recent album, which was released through the label Spira Records in the fall of 2022.

With Little Villains being a three piece band with a Motorhead connection, making comparisons to that legendary band is something of a standing invitation considering that context. And when the band use a booming, loud distorted bass guitar and has a tendency to offer up dirty guitar riffs and fast paced songs, that invitation transforms from being tempting to becoming unavoidable. These guys aren't exploring the exact same landscapes, but there are similarities, and to the point that Motorhead fans will find many of the songs here to be familiar.

Like Motorhead, Little Villains may go back in time for inspiration, with songs on this album that appear to have a basis in both 50's rock n roll, 60's rock and garage rock, each of them given a booming fuzzed out makeover transforming them into dirty and punchy creations of a similar nature to much of the material Motorhead was well known for crafting. The vocals being the one element that is markedly different though, as vocalist Childs opts for a controlled melodic delivery.

Quite a few songs here also appear to have a bit of a punk foundation, but explored and executed in a more high intensity and fuzzed out manner. Again with references to a certain aforementioned band.

It is when Little Villains steps a bit outside of that comfort zone that I find them to be more interesting. The more post-punk tinged landscapes of 'Mush' manages to add more tension and in a bit more of a subtle manner, which makes the end result quite intriguing. We also get a few songs where it seems that early days Iron Maiden have been just as inspirational as Motorhead and classic era UK punk, and when elements from these three relatively different sources are combined in different manners we also get some rather interesting end results. Cue the concluding song 'Spitfire', which is a most spirited and energetic creation. The longest track on the album, and arguably also the most interesting one.

Classifying Little Villains is just as easy and just as easy as classifying Motorhead. The music alternate between and mix elements of punk, hard rock and heavy metal, and I find it difficult not to classify them as a band that follow the Motorhead tradition of creating music. With a few additional and different bells and whistles, but not to the extent that they are substantially different in the core elements and foundation. Thus this will be an album that should be rather satisfying for many who enjoyed the exploits of Motorhead through the decades, as well as for those who tend to enjoy bands that pull in elements from hard rock, punk and heavy metal and toss the various ingredients around a bit.

Olav M. Björnsen, October 2022

Links:
https://www.thelittlevillains.com/