One EP as a lion

"It's better to live one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb." So reads a graffiti art inscription photographed by George Rodriguez in 1970. This inspired the name of the project, EP and title track "One Day as a Lion," billed as "a recorded interaction between Zack de la Rocha and Jon Theodore from Los Angeles, California."

In the nearly nine years since his last original album with Rage Against the Machine, Zack de la Rocha still favors subversive, high school-style poetry. Theodore, formerly of the Mars Volta and one of the world's best drummers, provides busy, propulsive rhythms that are as forefront as de la Rocha's bark. First track "Wild International" sets the tone for the album--a rap/rock song driven by a simple riff, Theodore's mighty drum fills and de la Rocha's commanding voice.

It's unclear whether Theodore or de la Rocha is helming the keyboard, which plays like an electric guitar throughout the EP. The sound is less flashy than Tom Morello or Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, but the riffs are strong enough to not need lots of solos or effects. I used to be sure that Tom Morello was the most important member of Rage Against the Machine, but when comparing this to Audioslave, I think I was wrong.

de la Rocha has never been a great singer, as heard on his on Rage's strained, surprisingly not awesome take on "Kick Out the Jams." But his tone and vigor make him a strikingly effective frontman. On One Day as a Lion he sounds as strong as he ever has, singing protest-reggae style choruses on "Ocean View" and "If You Fear Dying" that play to his singing talents better than anything else he's recorded. He also sounds more like a rapper than before, when he tended to yell or sound like an angry guy talking. His couplets flow with rhyme schemes ("In this era where DJs/behave/be paid/to be slaves/we raid/airwaves/to be sane") that his older lyrics lacked, and while his newfound smoothness comes at the expense of his eloquence, it still gets the point across.

Meanwhile, Theodore is never called on for the technical proficiency that he displayed in the Mars Volta. But without his former band's ADD instrumentation to nearly overwhelmed his percussion, Theodore's snare and crash symbol give the album it's liveliest musicianship, bridging the gap between ?uestlove and John Bonham.

The EP clocks in at 20 minutes, and the sameness of the five songs leaves it unclear as to whether the band could sustain a full album. But "too short" and "all the songs sound alike" are minor gripes, especially for an exciting new band batting 1.00 on their first release. "We'll show you what war is good for," threatens de la Rocha in the EP's final seconds, leaving us attentive and awaiting their next move.

Given both musicians' various projects, One Day as a Lion may never get around to touring or even recording ever again. If such is a case, then they certainly lived their one recording as...you know.