One Day As A Lion presents a self-titled, five-song EP that features the return of Zack de la Rocha back on the mike hurling words from his “tongue dipped in funk arsenic,” as he refers to it in the opening track “Wild International,” with a ferocity his fans come to expect, yet with results that are unfortunately disappointing. Both the lyrics and the music fall short in this venture.
Paired with former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore, whose stellar playing is the best thing on the album, their rap/rock combo makes it almost impossible not to compare it to Zack’s former outfit Rage Against The Machine. The most noticeable difference is that instead of the fantastic one-two punch of guitarist Tom Morello taking the blistering lead and bassist Tim Commerford keeping a tight rhythm, we get Zack’s uninspiring keyboard loops, which creates a similarity in the tracks as the loops offer little variety. They just drone on throughout each song, limiting what the music can be regardless of what Theodore brings. It might have worked for one of two songs, but for all five it doesn’t hold up, causing the songs to sound like RATM demos waiting to be augmented by the rest of the band.
The songs also sound unfinished because Zack repeats himself. In both “Ocean View” and “If You Fear Dying,” he repeats the line, “you can have the mike or the heater but you can’t hold both.” That’s not to say he doesn’t have good moments with lyrics like “the barbed wire dug in around our minds” from “The Last Letter” and “if you fear dying, then you’re already dead” from “If You Fear Dying.”
However he loses me on the title track, which closes the EP. It opens with a sound running through it that brings to mind RATM’s “Vietnow.” It has great potential as the phrase “One Day As A Lion” is taken from a 1970 photograph by George Rodriguez. The picture shows where someone tagged a wall in Boyle Heights with the line, “It’s better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb.”
Article comments
1 - Jordan Richardson
Good call. I had similar thoughts after spinning this a few times. A disappointing effort.
2 - El Bicho
Thanks, Jordan. I was excited to hear new Zack when I caught the single "Wild" on the radio, but after repeated listens, the EP fell way short.
3 - al_irish
tbh iv listend to so much of zachs solo and colab work, and this E.P is by far the greatest thing he's done.
henceforth i find this review to be not the be all and end all descion of what his music is about, and also theres more to it than his voacals but thats up to the fans to decide
4 - El Bicho
"this E.P is by far the greatest thing he's done."
You can't be serious
"henceforth i find this review to be not the be all and end all descion of what his music is about,"
Never claimed it was.
"and also theres more to it than his voacals"
Yeah, and I commented on those things as well
5 - Eric
Wow, talk about projecting. Tibetans, Georgians, Sudanese? I must have missed when they were mentioned on the EP. Being a part of a "Sinister Cabal of Superior Writers," I would like to think that metaphors and exaggerated language wouldn't be beyond your comprehension. I'm gonna go so far as to guess that De La Rocha knows and understands the delicate racial balance of his city, and I think we can rest assured that he doesn't want to set fire to the people that he's fighting to raise awareness to help. This review read more like a personal attack on De La Rocha than on the piece of music itself. I understand that in such a lyric-heavy musical endeavor we have to be critical of what's being said, but the criticisms made here seemed rushed, defensive, and convoluted. Musically, get beyond what you're expecting. Attacking a stripped-down sound (that was clearly intentional) shows short-sightedness and unwillingness to cope with change. Next time, try reading a little bit deeper as well as considering the fact that sometimes less is more. If that proves too daunting a task, I suggest you stick to reviewing AVP. Do me a favor and shoot me the day you start reviewing actual movies.
6 - El Bicho
Wow, talk about poor reading comprehension. I never stated that those ethnic groups were mentioned on the EP, but you did miss where I wrote that they are the ones who should live "One Day as a Lion" not an immigrant who comes to the US illegally.
You must be new or at least ignorant of his work because Zack is usually direct and in your face (like when he suggests all US Presidents since Truman should be tried and hung for war crimes) not usually prone to subtle metaphors. That's not to say he doesn't use them, "Bullet in the Head" is a great example, yet you offer no example that they are used in this song. Zack is much more Malcolm than Martin and if he didn't believe in violence in the face of oppression, he wouldn't have spent time with the EZLN in Mexico.
This review isn't not an attack Zack, but I did call him out on the lyrics of the title track because they are ignorant and immature.
Musically I was open to accept anything. That doesn't mean I should accept bad, repetitive keyboard loops. "March of Death" with DJ Shadow sounded different and was very well done; his work with Son De Madera is stripped down and sounds fantastic and I wish they would release it.
Do everyone a favor and shoot yourself now, or like Bugs suggests, you can wait until you get home.
Thanks for stopping by.
7 - cubert
its a review. get over it.