Holy War (Toto song)

"Holy War"
Single by Toto
from the album Toto XIV
ReleasedFebruary 17, 2015 (2015-02-17)
GenreHard rock
Length4:03
LabelFrontiers
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Toto singles chronology
"Orphan"
(2015)
"Holy War"
(2015)
"Burn"
(2015)

"Holy War" is a song by the American rock band Toto. It was released as the second single from the band's 2015 album, Toto XIV. The song is written in E major.

"Holy War" was originally recorded with drums, guitar, and bass. The bass was originally played by Leland Sklar using his fingers, "which just sounded huge" according to Steve Porcaro. The band made the executive decision to replace Sklar's bass track with a new part played with a pick in an effort to open up some space in the track to allow for other musical ideas. Porcaro contributed some keyboard ideas that were later scrapped, including a string-line on verse two and a synth solo. Porcaro played a Yamaha CS-80 Yamaha DX1 and Yamaha CS-80 for brass stabs, and he used a ribbon controller on the CS-80 to oscillate the pitch of the instrument. This keyboard was doubled with a Logic ES2 synth, "which has this great pitch-bend range that’ll go down three, four, or five octaves" according to Porcaro.[1]

  1. ^ Kovarsky, Jerry (July 13, 2015). "TOTO: The Synth Statesmen of Progressive Pop Return". Keyboard. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved October 30, 2023.