Kevin Bronson on June 21st, 2019

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“Playing by the rules / watching the cheaters lead,” Kat Leon sings in “Legend,” the new single from Holy Wars. It’s part of the battle cry in Leon’s latest collaboration with Nicolas Perez, done in the vein-bulging, almost-industrial pop sound that the band forged on their late-2017 EP “Mother Father.”

The duo made the song, originally imagined as a piece for a Fox trailer, with producer Hunter Burgan (AFI). Jeff Friedl (A Perfect Circle, The Beta Machine, Puscifer) plays drums and Matt McJunkins (A Perfect Circle, The Beta Machine, Eagles of Death Metal) is there in the background vocals.

It’s a song for outsiders who are rallying their inner forces.

“The message behind ‘Legend’ is about desire, obsession, struggle, desperation … a whole spectrum of emotions that we feel as humans in this life chasing greatness,” Leon says. “It’s a subject that even though we may not want to admit it, we all relate to. I wrote this song specifically about the music industry. It serves as a POV of every artist reaching for success and all that comes with it — money, admiration, proof of existence and so on. In an industry where nepotism rules all and advantages are sometimes given to the undeserving, I wanted to show a side of reality on what chasing greatness can do to an average “good” person. How deep does your desire run? Why do you want it? What are you willing to do for it?”

The single is the first from the band’s forthcoming EP, “Unholy,” arriving later this year.

||| Stream: “Legend”

||| Previously: “Born Dark”