Original: Doom-Metal.com ( http://www.doom-metal.com/reviews.php?album=2909 )'Overshadowed' was initially self-released in May 2014 by the duo O.L and P, as digital only, but it was subsequently re-released by Russia's top-label Frozen Light. What to make of Distiphyxia? It seems all a bit disjointed. The production for me is not that great. Not enough separation in the guitars and overall structure and the mix really falls short. On the third track 'Emptiness II' the electric-acoustic guitar seems to be out of tune and I struggled to get into this song - and this counted for most of the album, which was unfortunate, especially on the clean parts. To be fair, the album opens up from the fourth song and there are some decent melodies, but yet again the guitars, I feel, let it down and the blend of instruments have no identity of their own. Vocal lines are hidden on some tracks and you truly struggle to hear or take any positives out of them. When they are at the forefront they present a tortured wailing soul and I really like them. 'Torpor Overdose Pt.1' is a good example of this. I tried to listen again and again to the songs but they did not expand any further in development or creativity. The album was composed by O.L, who plays vocals, guitars, synths, and P on drums. They also did all the recording, mixing and mastering together. I really don't want to heavily criticise the production but nothing feels polished. Yes, we hear elements of a Brazilian feel in the cleaner side of the guitars, but the atmosphere is meant to be dark, melodic and Doomy and it gets a bit lost. It's as if this is a first demo that one would go back to years later and think: why didn't we try this or try that with the mix and production. As a lot of the music, I'm guessing, is recorded live; if, indeed, all of it may be a jam, an expression of music that they put together, then you could understand it from a musical perspective. Drums don't really drive the music for me and the bass is totally lost. If only they had expanded on the riffs more and widened the spectrum we may have had a really nice bunch of songs. At the end of my journey I feel short changed and want a refund. I hope these guys can take note of the mixing and production and maybe use references to see how other bands produce their music. I hope they can come back and prove me wrong. Reviewer's rating: 6/10

Original: ConcreteWeb ( http://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/distiphyxia )Distiphyxia are a project by Absent Heat’s O.L. (vocals, guitars, synths, programming) and his session partner in crime in that outfit, P. (drums, design / layout). They joined forces under this moniker in early 2014, and very soon after they came up with a first two-track EP, from which both compositions are on this debut album as well. This full length studio debut, Overshadowed, was initially self-released in May 2014 (digitally only), but it got re-released almost half a year ago by Russia’s top-label Frozen Light. Both members, by the way, did take care of recording, production, mix and mastering themselves, and the result, lasting for fifty two minutes, gets re-released in an edition of 300 copies.Overshadowed opens with the cheap instrumental introduction Prologue, which sounds somewhat Post-oriented, slightly alternative, and it surely sets a trend for the rest of this album. As from the track Emptiness, the band performs a disturbing, distorted form of highly melodic and sludgy (Black) Metal, rooted within a mostly melancholic and depressing form of Doom. It’s very slow in execution, with moments of creativity (or at least that seemed to be the intention – but it is not), yet unfortunately with frequently present moments of total dullness and boredom. Actually, the intentions are not really well-thought, the song writing lacks of inspiration and invention, and the performance isn’t but average, or less. Overshadowed rather sounds like a rehearsing jam session of some twelve-year old kids that did find some instruments in their basement. The album isn’t disgustingly bad, but I do not feel any attraction, and I am monumentally disappointed. The riffing is beneath any professional level, the drum patterns are infantile, and so on; only some vocal lines are acceptable, I think, for being drenched in sulphur and acid, but more than once these ones too are beneath acceptance. And what’s more – no, I give up, I won’t spent my energy anymore…But it gets even worse. Because of the inferior mix, many parts sound false, unclean, under-produced, and for sure that’s a pity. It’s like the master tapes have been pissed all over by a drunk boar. Nothing but noisy murmur at the background, bass lines disappearing, vocals that sound like a noise in a far and distant empty container… Truly a pity, almost an insult! Hail Chaos, all right, but don’t f*ck with it, okay?! A shame…A couple of highlights, in order to end with a positive note: the ideas behind The Obvious, the sole track that fully deserves my attention (quite interesting haunting keyboard lines), or both tracks from their debut EP, Tordor Overdose and Tordor Overdose II, which I think are acceptable too for the better part (especially the first one out of two). The rest of the album: ---Ivan Tibos.49/100