Over the past couple of years, I’ve written quite a bit about Holy Wars, led by Connecticut-born, Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter Kat Leon. And as you may recall, Leon initially developed a reputation for writing material that focused largely on her obsessions with death and the occult as one-half of the Los Angeles-based electro pop act Sad Robot. Leon’s Holy Wars debut Mother Father was influenced by some of the darkest days of her life: she was reeling from the sudden and tragic deaths of her mother and father, who both died within months of each other.
Building upon the attention she received across the blogosphere and this site with Mother Father, Leon released the Hunter Burgan-produced, arena rock friendly Nine Inch Nails, Garbage and Siouxsie and the Banshees-like “Born Dark” last year. Interestingly, the track found going back to her literal roots, as she explored the very moment of her birth, with the recognition that she may have always been a bad seed. Leon’s latest single “Legend” continues a run of rousingly anthemic material. Centered around Leon’s sultry, pop belter vocals, enormous arena rock power chords and an even larger hook. And while the song is delivered with a larger-than-life swagger that recalls Evanesence and Queen, the track is rooted in a heart-on-sleeve earnestness. But at its core, the song is about triumphing over darkness and uncertainty.
