Hailing from Russia, RETURN OF THE SOUL play Modern, Dark Metal. Formed in 2018, they released "Interlacing of Worlds" in 2019, and now are back with "Digital Dream. Pt 1. Echoes of Thunder," which contains six studio tracks and a cover of "Aerials" by SOAD. "IntroNet" leads off the album. It's a quick, short one-minute, mood-setting instrumental. Those fat bass lines come through strong here, as does a nice production from an independent artist. It segues into "Neuronet." Thick snyth, guitar and bass open the song, with a bit of the grandeur. The vocals are sung in native Russian language...and are both clean and harsh. The chorus is dark but the melody shines.

"Disconnect" opens with clean guitars that echo. Some soft spoken word comes into play, then the main riff drops. It moves with heaviness but quite slowly. Lead guitars bring a little melody with them. Harsh vocals really hit the mark in this song. The ambient passage is also nicely done. "No Pain" opens with these little bells and then the heavy Symphonic arrangements drop. You can tell from the cadence in the vocals that this is a Russian band, without even understanding what they are singing. "Reload" is a quick shot at under three-minutes in length. Simulated baritone notes open the song, with a bit of a majestic touch. There is both a weighted heaviness and a wonderful melody here at the same time.

"Echoes of Thunder" opens with a slower pace, and more melody from the synths. Following a very heavy sequence with harsh vocals, it slows to let some melody out. As it rolls forward with cleans in the chorus, the thick sound really shines. "Aerials" closes the album. Not being familiar with SOAD, I can't really comment on how close it comes to the original piece. But, it's a solid song, with use of synths and aggressive guitars in layers. The harsh vocals again work very well here.

I gotta give it the Russians here. "Digital Dream. Pt 1. Echoes of Thunder" is actually a very fine work. One thing that the band is not afraid of is using synths to help thicken up the sound. This and the guitar layers really provide some measure of consistence from one track to the next, and the use of harsh vocals is well-timed. They also know when, and how, to use melody, or when the drive calls for a heavier, more weighted sound. I've never heard of this band before, and now they have a new fan.