Rating: 7.0

Country: UK

Release Date: 2008

Record Label: Totalrust Music

Track list:
1.   To Those We Have Lost      
2.   Martyrdom      
3.   Tempestuous Seas      
4.   Pathogen      
5.   The Mistress      
6.   Cheyne Stoking      
7.   Halls Of Degradation      
8.   Do What Thou Wilt      

Total playing time   56:53

Band Website: Volition

Volition - Volition

Dave Hodge - Vocals
Mark Burnett - Guitar
Jas Murray - Guitar
Mark Burns - Bass & Vocals
James Doyle - Drums

Despite popular opinion, doom metal was never really about pain or misery -- the essence of doom is realizing that the self-affirming solace found in those negative emotions is ultimately as insignificant and disposable as the chemical reaction we know as happiness. Nor is it Christian imagery or Lovecraftian monsters that make doom; on the contrary, it's simply real life, and all the addiction, loss, and creeping dullness it entails. Saint Vitus knew it, EyeHateGod knew it, Black Sabbath knew it when they weren't stoned out of their minds, and Volition know it. But obviously, Volition are more than just hyperrealists, specializing in sludgy, death metal-tinted traditional doom that should appeal to the Coffins/Winter/Corrupted/Church of Misery crowd.

Save for a playful affinity with the occasional stumbling fake-out, the recurring theme here is extreme simplicity and grooviness. However, Volition are better equipped to command my attention than most bands of that ilk, thanks to mammoth riff resolution and an equally corpulent guitar tone. The music's mostly trudging and plodding, the best moments of the disc being when they break out of their swampy lurch and into irreverently rampaging mid-paced grooves such as in the song "To Those We Have Lost." Meanwhile, the vocals range from mewling, Silenceresque banshee shrieks to a guttural growl that sounds like possessed vacuum cleaner, the latter possessing enough subtle tonal variance to keep it rooted somewhere in the realm of "singing." Some where.   

As for petty gripes, the leadwork is fairly benign aside from a bit of obtuse bending, rarely venturing very far beyond what the rhythm guitars happen to be doing. It could also be argued that they're not very diverse; when that sobbing lead melody sweeps through the song "Cheyne Stoking," for example, you'll think, "didn't I hear this just a couple songs ago?" But then you must remind yourself that if you bothered to compare even two random riffs on the album, they probably wouldn't be significantly different; it all simply channels that Sabbathian groove that doom bands either have or don't have. I suppose whether or not you'll equate this lack of superficial diversity with ennui depends upon how many mp3s on your computer contain synthesizers or an utterance of the phrase "chocolate rain." This is doom stripped down to its distilled form: the wasted drawl of blues swimming through gallons of sludge with no gimmicks or bullshit.

Any further explanation would be superfluous. Heeding the old adage "less is more" (in form rather than quantity, as this release is just a few minutes short of an hour in length), Volition seem proud to accessorize their skeletalism and derivation rather than understate them. Although it brings nothing new to the table, those who breathe molasses riffing and feedback should find this to be a satiating album.

April 23rd, 2008