In their promotional materials, One Day As a Lion is described as “A defiant affirmation of the possibilities that exist in the space between kick and snare. It’s a sonic reflection of the visceral tension between a picturesque fabricated cultural landscape, and the brutal socioeconomic realities it attempts to mask. One Day As A Lion is a recorded interaction between Zack de la Rocha and Jon Theodore from Los Angeles, California.”
That’s cool and all, but the part that really matters is where it says something about “recorded” and “Zack de la Rocha”. It’s been a long time since the breakup of Rage Against The Machine, and Zack is the only one who hasn’t released an album. It’s long overdue.
The 5-song One Day As A Lion EP is drums, buzzy keyboard sounds, and Zack spitting laser-guided fury like only he can. The shit is raw, and I really dig it. His flow is more direct and mature than ever before, and long gone is the repetitive screaming that made the first RATM album so damned angry. Don’t get it twisted though, our man hasn’t gone soft. These are far from love songs. I think the choice to go with such minimal instrumentation was a great move. It gives the whole record a noisy, rickety vibe, which places the focus on Zacks vocals. He even attempts to sing on a couple parts, and he did it pretty well. I wouldn’t wanna hear a whole album full of it, but it totally works in this context.
GRADE: B+
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