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After a six year hiatus, Russia's Diathra are back with their sophomore effort, My Endless Sorrow. The lineup has changed quite a bit, since three members have left the band, leaving room for their new vocalist Marina Volovik and second guitar player Michael Sobol. They also got help from two session musicians to fill the bass and drum duties.

Diathra present themselves as a clean looking act doing clean metal music. To be more precise, they tend to be on the Gothic/Doom Metal side. Their style is nicely melodic and Marina's vocals are more than adequate for translating the sadness and emotional tones of their music. All of this is done without sounding anything near cheesy. This young lady is backed up by keyboard player Dmitri Laptenok on growls. Dmitri's keyboard playing is sadly orchestral, and involves some melancholic piano (keys?) parts. The crunchy riffing is omnipresent, while guitar solos are often heard, as well as a bit of clean arpeggios once in a while. All those elements make My Endless Sorrow a nicely emotional venture with a bit of catchiness on top of it. All the pieces are well written and played. A couple stand out of the lot, tracks # 2 and 3, namely "How Many Times" and "Dreams of Fire". I would also include "I Feel" in my list.

Overall, My Endless Sorrow is a clean and melodic Gothic/Doom release from Russia.