VICE is a German Hard Rock band formed in the late 80's and consisted of the former members of the German TNT. The guys are still playing n' rocking' all over Europe.

VICE released their first album "Made For Pleasure" in 1988 and it was well received by the press and fans. The band started touring across Europe and created the term 'Happy Metal', which was pretty reflected on their art cover. Two years later came out their second work "Second Excess" in 1990 and twenty-seven years after their second release, the band recorded "Veni Vini Vice" in 2017 as being their third studio album. Fortunately, they didn't take long to record their fourth album "3 Fingers Up" to be released in 2019 and that's what we're going to talk about.

Before we start discussing the songs, let's talk about the album cover. It's a simple cover and it has three embossed fingers with yellow outline painted on a black wall. It reminds me of street graffiti.

The first song "Shitty Shituation" starts with a fun bass groove and then the classical drive vocals comes in as the drum and bass keep doing a simple but nice work. The lyrics are pretty funny and the melody is really catch and it will stick to your head in seconds. The chorus is really good and there's a nice choir that reminded me of AC/DC. It's a really good song and one of my favorites in the album.

"License To Rock" comes next and it starts with a really Rock N' Roll chorus. I don't need to say much about this song. It's the best on the album and it's just awesome to see that the German Hard Rock is still alive. Just turn the volume up, grab a beer and band your head while singing the chorus out loud.

Oh "The Jerk" comes in with a great guitar riff that will automatically transport you back to the 80's. The vocal lines, guitars, bass and drums are so energetic that it's impossible to remain still. It's definitely a trip back to the Golden era of Hard Rock. What do we say when "The Jerk" arrives? "Fuck U". It's a cool song and it fits well with the rest of the album.

"I Hate Myself For Loving You" starts with a vibe from the 80's electronic music. The vocal lines are still one of the best things in the whole album. It's a good song. "3 Fingers" and "Name the Game" prepares the listener for the ballad that will hit up. "Dreaming About You" is a great ballad and it reminded me of MR. BIG. It's a really good song to listen, sing along and just enjoy some peace before the riffs again. It's very happy song.

"Made 4 Pleasure" will make you forget the sweetness of the ballad. It's probably the heavier song in the album and it has a killer guitar job here. "What Will You Do" finish the album and it's a beautiful ballad with everything you could have in a romantic and 80's style song. It has some cool orchestrations mixed up with clean guitar sounds and a beautiful solo as well. The lyrics will probably make the one smile... I hope.

It's a great album and probably one of the best Hard Rock releases of the year. There's no doubt that VICE still has a lot of power, creativity and sense of humor. They made one of the best albums of the year and deserve the title.