After following the steps here [0] and replaced 'hw:0' with 'hw:snd_hda_intel' (even though the intel driver confuses me because I don't have intel cards)
The volume icon disappears, But the audio works great.
$ inxi -A
Audio: Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Barts HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6800 Series] driver: snd_hda_intel # Provided by the Graphics card that doesn't work
Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) driver: snd_hda_intel # The one I'm currently using
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
[0]
http://obarun.org/image/retrovol.jpg