One Day As a Lion

Noise drenched rap/metal polemicists Rage Against The Machine's blend of firebrand social commentary, lumbering avant metal, and hip-hop rhythms inspired hundreds of rap rock outfits whose re-imaginings of Rage’s revolutionary aesthetic were often of dubious value. In response, Rage frontman Zack de la Rocha retreated into the underground after the band’s dissolution, planning an LP with underground hip-hop label raucous and performing solo as The Nightwatchman. Le Rocha’s most recent project, One Day As A Lion, a collaboration with Mars Volta’s drummer Jon Theodore, is of equally modest proportions, but its musical value far outdistances its reduced commercial profile. Theodore’s thunderous percussion, a blend of Bonham at his most bombastic and ?uestlove at his funkiest, provides a startlingly powerful foundation for de la Rocha’s primitive but gritty keyboard work. De la Rocha’s playing is economical but powerful, recalling a fractured, amped up version of keyboard-based garage outfits like ? & The Mysterians. Though the vocals are so low in the mix as to be almost inaudible, One Day As A Lion offers truckloads of visceral garage rock thrills.