One Day as a Lion EP; A Hardcore Review

I am going to remind everyone who reads these reviews that the grading system I use is this: instead of thumbs up or stars, I rate on hardcore moments in pro wrestling history. The more hardcore the event, match, promo or moment the more I liked the book, comic, movie or video game I am reviewing. The less hardcore the moment, the more I disliked it. An example would be anything related to Hulk Hogan would be highly NOT recommended. Onto the review...
Zach is back! And he's just a pissed as when he left. And anybody who loved all that is Rage Against the Machine is in the groove. As much as I loved Rage, I absolutely hated the bullshit watered down, poppy shit-a-cular music by so called super group, Audio Slave. Fucking pretty boy Chris Cornell is a washed up pussy from the stone age of the Seattle movement. Let it go Chris, no one wants to hear what you have to fucking say anymore. Go join a fucking reality show ya fucking 'mo.
Now back to the band. The vocals of Zach De La Rocha mixed with the insane drumming efforts of Jon Theodore. Yeah you know him kids. He's the guy from the Mars Volta. The combination of raw energy and blinding lyrics are a breath of fresh air and something I could sit and listen to for hours on repeat. I dig when music can be this good. When I'm working on my comic I listen to my mp3 player, fuck it I'm not gonna sell out and fucking brand everything, and when I do it's usually harder edged stuff. You could cut someone's head off with the lyrics spit by de la Rocha. So I chill at a coffee house, with a tasty beverage and push out as much as I can possibly get with my mind in a blur and caffeine racing through my veins.
To me, Rage will always be King, but One Day as a Lion is a very good follow up. The beats are hard, but justified and the poetic that Zach waxes is philosophical in nature as it is anti-govermental in all honesty. I would kill to be able to write my comic as well as Zach writes lyrics... LITERALLY. Who do you want dead. It doesn't get any better in the lyrics department than Zach. He rates number one in my top three lyricists.
The music envokes a somewhat primal spirit that drives me to rise up, behead my captors and burn down the fucking big white building housing the enemy.
Deplorable in any other country. With the threat of being hung for having such thoughts, Zach is free to espouse the ideals of free speech and necessitate the vilification of those who have taken from our hard work and souls for the longest of time. People have yet to realize, as have those in charge....
"There are more of us than there are of you."
and my personal favorite
"People shouldn't be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

It is a great honor to bestow upon this amazing piece of work, a moment that was so hardcore, because it was bereft of steel chair shots and blood, that it was truly hardcore because of the work put in by the two men in the ring. So hardcore in fact that the loser actually got a standing ovation from the crowd. A classic in every sense of the word, and all the more so, because we will never see it's likes again. I give you Kurt Angle v. Chris Benoit for the WWE title at the Royal Rumble 2003. 20 minutes of mat wrestling mayhem. From Benoit's DDT of Angle on the ring apron to the more than half dozen ankle lock submission attempts by Angle. To the final moment when, after being the ankle lock more times than I even counted and the grueling ferocity of Angle's need for validation as champion Benoit finally, achingly, and to the crowd's collective gasp, tapped out.

Saul Williams Amethyst Rock Star; A Hardcore Review

I am going to remind everyone who reads these reviews that the grading system I use is this: instead of thumbs up or stars, I rate on hardcore moments in pro wrestling history. The more hardcore the event, match, promo or moment the more I liked the book, comic, movie or video game I am reviewing. The less hardcore the moment, the more I disliked it. An example would be anything related to Hulk Hogan would be highly NOT recommended. Onto the review...
Today, I review Saul Williams' Amethyst Rock Star. Now Saul Williams is in my top five favorite MC's of all time. And that top five is an eclectic mix of who's who in the MC world. Saul is one of the most intelligent and underrated people in the music industry. His lyrics are as smart as Immortal Technique's or Zach de la Rocha's, but no where near as rage filled or violent. And that's not cutting him down. He's an amazingly talented man, in both the lyrics and beats of his music. You can tell that he puts TIME into his work. I have listened to this album a handful of times, and twice in the last few days. And it amazes me every time I hear it.
If you are a fan of trippy, quasi-psychedelic hip hop with some of the sweetest lyrics you've ever heard, then you've gotta listen to some Saul Williams. Any album will do. But this is one of those albums you can listen TO EVERY SINGLE TRACK! I'm not exagerating either. Every one. And when it ends, all too soon, it'll have you wanting, na craving more.
There are times when he weilds the power of Lenny Kravitz on the mic, such as in Fearless. And then there are times when it's pure Saul in Om Nia Merican. They way he combines the beats and then graces it with his voice, turning his vocal chords into yet another tool, another instrument and just makes magic in the studio.
I would feel blessed if Saul were to give his ok to have any of his songs be in the un/official Youth in Asia soundtrack.
Music is so hard for me to grade, due to its subjectivity and it can fit at appropriate times and places. Due to the nature of this being a hardcore review it makes grading someone like Saul Williams even harder. His music is powerful, and empowering, but not in and of itself angry, making hardcore wrestling anecdotes very tough to compare it to. But in my own way, I look forward to certain challenges. So here goes. The year was 1995. The promotion was ECW. The event wasHostile City Showdown. The match: a 30 minute classic between Eddy Guerrero and Dean Malenko for the ECW Television Title. Thirty minutes of pure wrestling. With two guys who in my opinion, never go their due. Sure Eddy got the WWE title in 2004 off of Brock Lesnar, but that was only because Brock was quiting. It was done more as a lifetime achievement award than anything else. And well, they never did much with Dean other than make him a comedy act with the Light Heavyweight Championship. Both men are deserving of great accolades, but this involved no chairs, no tables and no blood loss of any kind. This the kind of match you show anyone who wants to be a wrestler. It's that fucking good. And the result of it is what it should be... a time limit draw.