New Music: Holy Wars Takes Self-Doubt to the Extreme with the Brooding and Relatable ‘ihatemyself,’ as Premiered by DJ Kat Corbett on KROQ 106.9 FM (Listen)

Holy Wars is a project featuring vocalist Kat Leon and guitarist/producer Nicolas Perez — and their brand of musical expression is heavily inspired by emotion and dark, twisted explorations of the psyche. The Los Angeles band‘s new song “ihatemyself” dives deep into pools of self-doubt, “that inner dialogue that every one of us has felt strongly at some point,” according to the band.

The anthem was premiered this week via KROQ 106.7 in Los Angeles (by DJ Kat Corbett on her Locals Only show). “ihatemyself” creeps along, Leon alternating between hushed verses and the song’s explosive refrain structured around the phrase “I’m terrible to myself/sometimes I hate myself,” Perez’s haunting guitars adding to the song’s overall intensity.

Holy Wars was borne out of intense personal loss as a means of musical catharsis. As Kat Leon explained to Rock Cellar in a 2019 chat:

All of our music is always personal — sometimes too personal for some people — we sing about a very important subject in my life, losing my parents, and that actually has helped me connect with a lot of people because of that. But I’m sure for some people, they’re like, “I don’t want to think about that,” or whatever. But yeah, it’s very vulnerable, I don’t know how to write or sing any other way.

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I got mantras on my tongue but nothing ever sticks… Hearing the world premiere of IHATEMYSELF on @kroq last night was so sick 💊 💊 💊 What did you all think?! There is still time to pre-save before we drop tonight… Photo @markimage

A post shared by Holy Wars (@holywarsmusic) on Jul 27, 2020 at 11:08am PDT

“ihatemyself”has been a bit of a live favorite among Holy Wars’ dedicated crew of fans in the Los Angeles area. The band has been performing the song in concert for about a year, and took note of the attention given to it by fans.

Said Kat Leon regarding the song’s premiere: “The excitement in the anticipation of this song has been very long coming, so the pressure to us was a bit high — but we’re really happy that it’s finally out there in the world so the fans can have it.”

“ihatemyself” comes on the heels of Holy Wars’ recent single “Welcome to My Hell,” which was premiered in late October 2019 and earned the band solid support in the Los Angeles region:

Stay tuned for more from Holy Wars, and visit the band’s website for additional details and music.