VOLUME – JOY OF NAVIGATION (A TRIP THROUGH THE ETERNAL UNKNOWN)
It felt like a glitch in the matrix for me personally when this album only made it to the Number 29 spot of the November Doom Charts of 2024. Especially since some Contributors had already written a blurb about it when they submitted their lists. Luckily, we have the Peroration Post to give the albums we cherish a bit more attention. And so, VOLUME‘s JOY OF NAVIGATION (A TRIP THROUGH THE ETERNAL UNKNOWN) was there with two blurbs on the November Peroration Post. It’s good, it’s great and it should be your next aural destination!
Rich Piva (Musipedia of Metal, FuzzDoomRip) wrote back then: “Yeah right, like I’m not going to like an album from a band made up of guys who were in Monster Magnet, Nebula, Queens of the Stone Age, Mondo Generator, and a bunch of other cool bands and that calls out Monster Magnet’s 25…Tab as a reference point. If you like heavy psych, early Monster Magnet, things that are awesome, and bands having fun making killer music, listen to the new VOLUME record. My only complaint with Joy Of Navigation is that it is short at under 30 minutes, and I always want more VOLUME, but hey, in this case you can listen to it twice in one sitting.”
Steve Woodier (Anointing The Sick) wrote back then: “Originally formed in 1993 by ex-Fu Manchu singer Patrick Brink, the band on this recording features Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell, drummer Mike Amster (Nebula) and production/keyboards by Dave Catching, so you could say that VOLUME is something of a Stoner Rock supergroup ‘Joy of Navigation‘ is the band’s latest album and contains five songs of immersive psychedelic stoner. The opening track ‘Mercury Pull’ is a real slow burner. When it first started I thought I was listening to something by Hawkwind but the celestial petals soon unfold into a Samsara Blues Experiment like stimulant, lazily dissolving into the cosmic ether before the emotion of the song dramatically changes into a ripping, heavy rocking roller coaster. ‘Mercury Pull’ turns out to be the calm before an extremely fierce storm of strutting, barrel chested riffs with fuzz more or less stripped away exposing a diamond hard metallic core. This enables the album to breathe and reveals the most interesting aspect of an already thoroughly absorbing record. If you listen closely, the soloing hardly ever stops. It’s either in the background like incessant chatter or posturing wildly above the mayhem, often mutated by special effects pedals. ‘Joy Of Navigation (a trip through the eternal unknown)‘ definitely hits the perfect spot, evolving from the album ‘Requesting Permission To Land’ which was a musical child of its time (also an essential buy) into a modern, dynamic, sonic force.”
Frazer Jones (Desert Psychlist) said: “Shit-kicking desert rock that sits at the heavy psych end of that particular spectrum. If that description does not get you salivating then the fact that underground legend Ed Mundell (Monster Magnet/ Atomic Bitchwax) is dealing out the lead guitar work here…. should!”
Scott Spiers (CleanAndSoberStoner, Monster Riff) said: “Volume is the real effing thing. A time capsule of Desert Rock stuffed with resurrected DNA that morphs into a Beast that relishes the shit show of the current moment. Joyful anger with the energy of 17 year old Alpha Males combined with the wizened visage that comes with age.”
Joop Konraad (Stoner HiVe) wrote: “Almost instantly, the illusions will start. Shifting gear on you like some quicksilver mind-altering odyssey. There’s something absolutely freeing about listening to the new Volume album. It will pilot you into the unknown and once you get locked into that state you know you will have to take it all the way. For that is the pure and beautiful Joy Of Navigation. And that by sheer coincidence, cough cough, is the title of the album. Recorded in the legendary Rancho De La Luna studio under guidance of the maestro himself: Dave Catching. Who of course had to also deliver a few synth and Moog touches, because when the energy flows the right way, you can’t help yourself. And that makes the Volume outfit even more star-studded, founded by Patrick Brink, for a small moment in time member of Fu Manchu taking guitar and vocals. Ed Mundell from Monster Magnet on lead guitar. Mike Amster from Mondo Generator, Nebula and Blaak Heat Shujaa on Drums. Abraham William Parker on bass and loads of other instruments. Star-studded and the lift off of opener Mercury Pull will have you zooming around the stars in no time. Over nine minutes filled to the brim with freak out psychedelic rock, punked up acid and something entirely proto. Sixties love, seventies blend, mantric and liberating. Throw out your arms, go wild! You’re gonna wanna take this trip all the way. Title tack Joy Of Navigation grounds you, goes wilder still and offers up more of a garage and punk take on the freak rock they are delivering throughout. But there’s still that stoner trucking, desert rocking that keeps you zooming. Heavy Sunshine opens entirely like a radical lift off, aiming for something explosive and a different planet all together, but then they just keep it going and keep you coming. That slow rising anticipation almost become unbearable. A cover version of The Golden Age by Swedish Union Carbide Productions goes into the laidback flow of the desert even more, the rootsy energy it contains and their version sounds like it could be added to the Orquesta Del Desierto live set without any problem. Spacebaby has a definite Monster Magnet touch, subdued monolithic and with so much of raw freedom coursing through all those guitar lines it will drive you crazy. It’s entirely liberating listening to Joy Of Navigation, its full Volume, it’s planet Volume and the living is good!”
Their own words: “Originally formed in 1993 by ex-Fu Manchu singer Patrick Brink, the band has a revolving set of collaborators, with this record including Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell playing leads, Nebula/Spoon Benders drummer Mike Amster and organ/production by Dave Catching at Rancho de la Luna. “
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Doom Charts 