Coming out with “Ride the Rings”, Mazing Vids are a two-piece act from New York. However, that is pretty much all I can discern about the band, as this EP is really good at pounding the same general sound into my ears for nearly eighteen minutes. Throughout the entire disc, all instruments morph into one large mass that is virtually impossible to disassemble – including voice. Everything on the disc has a perfection to it that is completely free from humanity – from the arranged electronic drum beats to the carefully molded distortion on tracks like “Erector Set”. The chatter on “Razor Blades” is more of a nuisance than anything, muddling up the intertwining of the synth and drum kit. After the first few minutes of the track, the song seems to infinitely repeat itself, and tends to just fade into the background, not to be noticed again.
The guitar modulation on the ultimate epic title track is slightly less repetitive than the rest of the music on the disc, but each of the mini-movements on “Ride the Rings (track)” are repetitive on their own right. The only thing that really is of note are the transitions between the sections of the song, which are more original than anything on the disc. While there are only 4 tracks on the disc, I feel as if this is a full-length album. Perhaps if Mazing Vids tried to leave the comfort zone of extreme distortion, this disc could reach of the limits of mediocrity, but during this go around, I just don’t seem much that is going the Mazing Vids’ way.
I have to give the Mazing Vids one thing, though, and that is the fact I do not have a full length worth of material to go off of, nor do I have any of their previous music. However, I can say with certainty based on this disc that the band is stuck in a rut on “Ride the Rings”. Brief flashes of brilliance can be seen when the band breaks from the monotony that they find themselves in, such as in the random synth lines during “No Chance”, but the band seems to pound a theme into the ground, time and time again. Perhaps the band will break out of their shell on a future release, but this time, we are left with an album that just is not very compelling.
Top Track: No Chance
Rating: 3.6/10
Mazing Vids – Ride the Rings / 4 Tracks / 2003 Stricken Record / http://www.superassembly.com/mazingvids.html / Reviewed 09 April 2004