Musically, however, The Return differs from the rest of the band's discography by being their most overtly ska-based, featuring some of the surf music influences which characterized their early material but little of the new wave or punk rock elements which would eventually become the core of the band's sound on future releases.

As the band's local notoriety began to rise with the commercial resurgence of ska music, they eventually sold an impressive 24,000 copies without any distribution.

[2][3] By the end of the 1990s, The Return eventually fell out of print, and the album was re-issued and distributed by Fearless Records in 2002.

[4] The Return was the only Aquabats album to feature original guitarist The Brain (Ben Bergeson), keyboardist Nacho (Chad Parkin) and drummer Roddy B.

At the 2006 San Diego Aquacadet Summit, the Aquabat's semi-annual fan club gathering, Adam Deibert joined the band's current line-up to perform the album in its entirety in celebration of its tenth anniversary.