'Sick of Lies' is the debut release on Lion Music for German band Virus and what a scorcher of an album.  Right from the first track ‘Lost’ I was hooked on this album.

The band have only been around since 2000 and after this release the band are surely on their way to great things.

The album has a definite grunge metal feel to it and the vocals of  Frank Widderson are very reminiscent of James Hetfield at times.

The album opens up with the impressive ‘Lost’.  A hard hitting metal tour de force that has its roots planted in the Pearl Jam grunge mold.  However, the intensity of the track is more metal than Pearl Jam ever were, and from here there is no looking back.

The quality continues with ‘For My Sun’ with its tuned out guitars and heavy drums.  This track really rocks you down to the bone and the Hetfield style vocals are at their most prominent on this track.

‘Mother Earth’ is a more of the same with Widderson's vocals leading the way as he shows various changes in vocal style throughout the track. Things slow down a touch with the next track ‘Once’, as a slow track that gradually builds up to a fierce vocal chorus and has Widderson at his most passionate.

The heat is turned up a notch of two with ‘Homeless’ with the drums of Udo Bopre at their best and once again the enthusiasm and feeling that the vocals project is outstanding. This has to be one of favorite tracks on the album.

However, it's ‘Payday’ that really grabs me with its varying tempo changes and commanding guitar solo’s that really make this track work.  It's definitely my own personal favourite out of all the tracks on the album.

The Pearl Jam sounding ‘360’ is another hard-hitting vocal track that just oozes quality.  The band show that it's not all intense guitar work with the semi acoustic ‘Caged’, a track that leads nicely into ‘Bleedin’, which is yet another track that highlights impassioned vocals of Widderson.

The pace then picks up with the barn storming ‘Fool’ and the monstrous ‘Free’,  before slowing down once more with the slightly grunge driven guitar track ‘No More Lies’.  This superb album is brought to a close with ‘Who’ and puts the icing on a very impressive debut.

It may seem a little bold of me to say this, but this is the album that Metallica’s 'St Anger' should have been.  Virus should be very proud of this release and I can't wait for the next.