THE FRONT ROW

Ten years ago, Holy Wars emerged from grief with their debut “I Can’t Feel a Thing.” Now, in a devastatingly poetic full-circle moment, they return with “I Feel Everything”, a song that doesn’t just open old wounds, but dares to keep them open, to feel them bleed, to turn pain into power.

This is the band’s first new release in over a year, and it comes armed with deeper wounds and sharper teeth. The track traces its lineage back to their debut, “I Can’t Feel a Thing,” which channeled the grief of frontwoman Kat Leon losing both parents. A decade later, with the devastating loss of her sister in 2024, “I Feel Everything” pushes further into the darkness, and finds explosive light in the process.

There’s no slow burn here. The song tears out of the gate, with angular guitars and crashing drums powering a full-throttle vocal performance from Leon that’s both unflinching and emotionally shredded. From the very first breath, she sounds like she’s standing on the edge of a cliff, wind howling, daring the world to feel as much as she does.

After that visceral open, the track simmers, but never settles. Tension bubbles beneath every line, every chord change. The verses give just enough space to breathe before the chorus erupts again like a pressure valve bursting open. It’s that volatile dynamic, scorched-earth emotion held in check just long enough to hit harder, that makes this one of the band’s most compelling offerings yet.

Kat Leon has always written from the chest cavity, but here, her lyrics feel even more exposed. “I dissociated so long I forgot how to scream” captures the numbness of grief, but also the courage it takes to step back into the fire. You feel her confronting every buried emotion and dragging it, kicking and wailing, into the light.

Sonically, “I Feel Everything” is bold and cinematic, one foot in industrial rock and the other in modern alt-metal. Guitarist and producer Nick Perez deserves serious credit for the sound design here: gritty, massive, and heartbreakingly beautiful in equal measure. There’s a finesse to the way the aggression is sculpted, it’s loud, yes, but also layered, with every scream and strum placed for maximum impact.

Despite its brutal honesty, the song pulses with hope. Perez calls it a track about empowerment, and that rings true, not in a shallow, motivational way, but in the messy, unglamorous truth of choosing to feel again. It’s a song for anyone teetering between breakdown and breakthrough.

Coming off a landmark year, sharing stages with Evanescence and The Warning, tearing through major festivals, and levelling up with their Cult Classic EP, Holy Wars are entering their next chapter louder, bolder, and more self-assured than ever. And with EU and UK festival slots ahead, plus club dates with Kittie, “I Feel Everything” feels like the first shockwave in a much bigger quake.

It’s clear now: Holy Wars aren’t here to chase trends or play nice. They’re here to feel everything, and make damn sure you do too.

FFO: Spiritbox, PVRIS, Evanescence, Bad Omens
Add to playlist if: You need something explosive, emotional, and unfiltered to burn through the fog and something that breaks your heart and puts it back together again, louder.