One Day As A Lion – Self Titled

Throughout the years working for this site I’ve read a fair share of bios. While some are useful, most contain the same general outline – mindlessly proclaiming the feats of the newest MySpace band that is attempting to make it big. But out of the hundred of bios that I’ve read, none have ever described their CD as accurately as One Day As A Lion does. Just read their bio and you can immediately picture the band’s sound despite its eccentric claims; but it’s only once you actually listen to the EP that you really see how apt that description is.

Featuring Rage Against The Machine vocalist Zack de la Rocha and former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore, One Day As A Lion is a chaotic,industrialized experimental EP that leans more towards the sound of Rage than that of The Mars Volta. The music is abrupt, angry and fiery, with Theodore blasting away at his drum kit, beating out a Nine Inch Nails-esque drum rhythm. On top of that is de la Rocha’s distorted keyboards filling out the chaotic melodies helping to cement the kick of the bass drum into the listener’s ear drum. De la Rocha also attacks the microphone for the first time in years.

Despite never truly being a huge Rage fan, his vocals still come blaring through with blast of both nostalgia and authenticity. Mixing rap delivery with more melodic singing, De La Rocha once again spits out sociopolitical messages with a sense of angst and aggression; calling for a revolution while keeping a fluid train of thought. The lyrics fit the music as their abrupt changes and seemingly disjointed meaning are reminiscent of some Nirvana songs. Sometimes he’s slightly cryptic, “They say that in war / That truth / Be the first casualty/ So I dig in selector / I the resurrector/ Fly my shit / Sever your neck/ Wider than ever / With my tongue / Dipped in funk arsenic” and other times he’s more direct, “Your god is a homeless assasin / who roams the world to save / he’s digging for buried treasures / leaving nothing but fields of graves.” It’s a nice break from the normal set of lyrics that are coming out these days.

One Day As A Lion won’t change your life or have such an impact as Rage Against The Machine, but it will invigorate, excite and energize the listener. The songs all carry a bite with them, a sense of controlled chaos and fiery anger; and it makes for one hell of a listen.