I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 10, 2026] Holy Wars

This show was announced rather unexpectedly.  Holy Wars and Oxymorrons are playing the Warped Tour in Washington D.C.  But they had a few days off, so they decided to play some small clubs in NY and Philly.   I didn’t know Holy Wars, but I love Oxymorrons. I actually assumed that Oxymorrons was the headliner.  Especially when I went upstairs and saw that the Oxy drum were set up (and every band used them).  But Holy Wars were the headliner and the crowd that was there was really into them.

The guy who was in front of me was a huge fan of Holy Wars–he had gotten to the venue at like 4:30 and chatted with the band.  He must have been super psyched when lead singer, Kat, leaned right up to him during one of the songs and let him sing a line or two.

So Holy Wars is technically a duo of vocalist Kat Leon and Nicholas Perez on guitar.  For the live show they had a bassist and drummer too.  They’ve been around for a few years and have a few albums out.  Their style has changed pretty dramatically over the years.  Their earliest stuff is much less heavy.   And their middle stuff is more electronic.  But their newer stuff is guitar based and almost nu metal.  Kat seems to really get into this new style.

Kat is a great frontwoman–she clearly loves what she does and has a lot of fun up there.  The rest of the band didn’t do much, but I think all eyes are on her.  I gather that this was a tour to support their new album, the awkwardly named Shadow Work/Light Work, because they played most of it.

They opened with I Feel Everything the first proper song on their new album.  Kat has a few different vocal styles and I wondered if she was putting some kind of effect on her voice when there seemed to be some kind of echo during certain parts.  The song has a really heavy almost 5 string bass sound.  But what I thought was really cool was that their bassist was using a hollow bodied 4 string bass.  It looked huge and sounded really deep.  He also sang the occasional ugly backing vocals.

Their drummer, Johnny Tuosto was a beast back there.  I don’t know if he had effects on his drums, but his snare was occasionally so piercing.  He really added a lot to the sound.

They followed it with Kill the Light a song that switches between heavy parts and quieter moments.  It really showed off how diverse Kat’s vocals can be.  She dedicated Crucify to a lot of people they hate (she didn’t say names).  I enjoyed the slow, screamed chorus.  Then she said they would play some old songs. 

They played two.  Get Mine had a different vibe. It came from their more electronic album.  It had more attitude and was pretty fun.  Cult Classic (from 2023) seemed like a transition from the previous album to the much heavier new album.  It was super catchy, too.

After the two older songs, they returned to the new album with the quieter Skin Deep.  Kat commented how she liked taking a breather like this once in a while.   But the end has some real vocal shredding, so it’s not all mellow.  They followed it with Metamorphosis which had a super catchy chorus.

The weirdest thing to me was that about half way through the set this older guy came over and stood next to me and clearly was not getting into it.  I’m guessing that he was like the bouncer or manager or something.  He wound up standing in the corner and his expression never changed.  Although Kat did wave to him and fist bumped him at one point.  I found his presence rather unsettling and felt like he was keeping a close eye on the guy in front of me.  But he never did anything, so I don’t know what his deal was.

Kat was dressed in a black zip up with lace stockings with crosses on them.  She was also wearing short shorts that said I DON’T EXIST, which was funny and kind of weird, but maybe it was merch for their new song Proof of Existence.  For the next song, Everything You, she said it was a song about her sister whom she missed.  I couldn’t really hear the words to most of the songs, but I could tell this one was much more tender (and poppy) than the rest of the set.

The setlist had ??? near the end and I gather that people could put in requests?  The guy in front of me showed his suggestion on his phone (which I didn’t get to read), but she had said they weren’t playing that on this tour.  The ??? song turned out to be a cover of Violet by Hole.  I thought it was really quite good.  The guitars were weird for it (they played it in Holy Wars’s style not Hole’s style), but the energy was terrific. Kat said that they never did this–whether it was play a cover or play this cover, I wasn’t sure.

There were two songs after the cover.  Shadowalker featured some whispered parts before Kat’s voice soared to the pre-chorus.  They ended with Ceremony a fast heavy rocker that closed the night perfectly.  Kat sings some pretty choruses combined with some screamed “don’t let them ruin you” lines.  These moments were really intense and her voice sounded shredded (in a good way).

Their set was only 45 minutes, but that was fine (I had to add ten minutes to my parking and was glad it wasn’t much longer).  They crammed a lot into 45 minutes and it was probably a perfect warm up for the Warped Tour.  This was a great introduction to a band I didn’t know, and I loved seeing them from five feet away.

∑ Shadow Work/Light Work (2026)
© CULT CLASSIC EP (2023)
⊗ EAT IT UP SPIT IT OUT