Volumes - Happier?

Label: Fearless Records

Released: 19th November 2021

Rating: ★★★

Sometimes you have to travel a long way to get back to where you started. That’s the tale of Volumes’ new album ‘Happier?’, an album both inspired by the journey, but more secure in its own skin.

Reunited with original vocalist Michael Barr, there’s a heaviness that makes its title more of a rhetorical query than a genuine question. Opening with a brutal punch, it’s recent single ‘Bend’ that proves there’s more than one string to Volumes’ bow, though. Mixing melody with a satisfying gut-punch, it marks a record that can live both above and below in a way so many struggle to match.

Those hard yards make a difference.