One Day As Lion

One Day as a LionOne Day as a LionI could never overstate how exasperated I was with the topic of Rage Against the Machine frontman Zach de la Rocha a few years ago. After over half a decade spent fielding questions about de la Rocha’s supposed debut post-Rage album, I decided that I’d pretend to not know what the customers at the stores I worked at were asking about. Who? Never heard of him, but I like that name. I tell you now, after the release of One Day as a Lion, de la Rocha’s first proper release since the final proper Rage album, 1999’s amazing The Battle for Los Angeles, that my exclaimed apathy couldn’t be further from the truth. Rage Against the Machine’s eponymous debut, released in 1992, hit the baby-faced version of myself like a ton of bricks. I’d heard of artists with revolutionary messages and I knew of people who stood up publicly against issues of their time, but no one from **my era** seemed too concerned with the current social issues.

Seeing a photo of Rage’s four members standing nude on the 1993 Lollapalooza stage - nothing but duct tape over their mouths - meant very much to me as a young man. Seeing it today and remembering it and all of that band’s bold actions, I’m still impressed by their guts and drive. That’s why today, after reading through de la Rocha’s latest set of lyrics, I’m left scratching my head. How could someone once so studied, intelligent and reactionary write **these** five songs? And after almost a decade of work, how can **this** be all he has to offer? Needless to say, One Day as a Lion - a project that sees de la Rocha teaming with former Mars Volta member Jon Theodore - is foremost a letdown.

You could argue that, considering the regular rumors of various projects, nothing de la Rocha did upon his return stood a chance; that in mind, One Day as a Lion could be worse. It could be, I don’t know, Audioslave. It could be The Nightwatchman. de la Rocha’s vocals sound good as ever, even if the lyrics don’t quite hit like they used to. In addition to de la Rocha’s occasional singing (if my memory serves me well, singing is a first for him), One Day as a Lion’s general formula is much different than that of Rage, even if the vibe isn’t wholly different. It’s still rap/rock, but gone are the dizzying experimental guitar riffs, loops and effects and full-band sound; One Day as a Lion is a lean recording, built on vocals, artsy start-stop garage drumming and lots of treated keyboards - played by de la Rocha, no less. It’s a good, simple sound full of details, but not one that could carry attention through a full-length record.

de la Rocha’s strongest asset has always been not just his self confidence but his ability to speak - or rap, I guess - what he believes with authority and conviction. Coming out in the middle of the slacker rock movement, the power Rage exuded was amplified due to their apathetic contemporaries, and while de la Rocha does what he can to create that same needed power here, his cause feels less academic, and thus less effective. He still has the rage and still sounds like the most original frontman of his time, but the end product just doesn’t work well … at least not for the older, better informed version of me (and I’d hope you, too). It’s too bad de la Rocha, once an informer of varying degrees for his generation, hasn’t evolved as much as his time with Rage would have indicated. He’s still chugging away, saying things most wont go near, but his overall scope is no broader than it was when he wrote The Battle of Los Angeles a decade ago.

If de la Rocha and Rage Against the Machine are news to you, jump online immediately and read up. This man, many more than any artist of the 90s, had a message, and he and his band did and said some amazing things that still look good in their context. After some reading, forget everything you know about rap/rock and listen to all three proper Rage albums; they’re already the only records of their kind that still sound necessary. One Day as a Lion doesn’t live up to the wait, but it does remind that there is a legend of truth and change among us, still kicking around, doing what he can for both art and injustice. For that, One Day as a Lion is worth getting to know. An LP has already been announced for late fall of this year; with de la Rocha’s recent track record, I just assume we can expect it no later than 2020.   7/10

Written by G. William Locke