How good is “Unholy”?

The kind of song that feels less like entertainment and more like an unlocked door you probably shouldn’t walk through alone at 2AM.

This version of KISS was something heavier. Meaner. A band remembering that underneath the branding there was always menace trying to claw its way back out.

Between 1984 and 1989, KISS became a full-blown hair metal act because they had to. The culture changed. MTV took over. Image became currency. Everybody got brighter, shinier, prettier. Aquanet replaced danger. Hooks replaced grit. And KISS survived because survival is what they do better than almost anybody.

The crazy part? Their look actually worked perfectly for that era. But by the end of the ‘80s, something happened.

The fans, the real KISS Army, were exhausted by glam metal becoming pop music with distortion pedals. They wanted darkness again. They wanted the spirit of the ‘70s back, but updated. Bigger riffs. Lower tuning. More aggression. Less posing. More threat.

Bob Ezrin was back behind the boards. He was part of their most successful records and one of their worst. 

And then came “Revenge” with “Unholy” as the lead off single.

The riff alone sounds like a steel factory collapsing into Hell with its devil tritone. A primitive stomp that feels ritualistic.

Written by Vinnie Vincent and Gene Simmons, it was another reminder of what Vincent could do when he was locked in. The man had chaos in his DNA, but he also had instinct. He understood drama. Tension.

Its also the tragedy of Vinnie Vincent. Every comeback became self-sabotage. Every redemption arc eventually caught fire because he couldn’t stop pouring gasoline on it. 

But talent? 

Undeniable. His fingerprints are all over “Unholy.”

Lyrically, the brilliance of the song is that it blames humanity, not Satan.

“I was created by man.”

Not demons. Not mythology. Not fantasy. Us.

War. Greed. Corruption. Power. Addiction. Human appetite. Human cruelty. Human ego. Evil survives because people keep feeding it.

“I have seen you eat your own”

That’s civilization. Corporations cannibalizing workers. Nations sacrificing youth. Families destroying themselves from the inside out.

The genius of the line is that it removes Satan from the equation and puts humanity under the spotlight. The monster isn’t hiding in the shadows. It’s sitting at the dinner table wearing a business suit and a smile.

“I’m the cycle of pain / Of a thousand year old reign”

Empires fall, flags change, religions shift, technology evolves… but human behavior keeps replaying the same loop. Evil survives not through strength, but through inheritance.

“You send your children to war / To serve bastards and whores”

Patriotism stripped down to raw economics and ego.

Young people die while old men negotiate power from safe rooms.

“But you are the beast / That calls me by my name”

The devil isn’t introduced as an invading force. He’s summoned. Created. Fed. Human beings manufacture the conditions for corruption and then act shocked when it arrives.

This is why “Unholy” has aged better than most metal songs. It wasn’t chasing fashion. It was dragging KISS back toward their original identity, dangerous, theatrical, oversized, and slightly evil.