The Higher Desires - Unknown Soldiers (Veterans Edition)
War has always revealed its futility. Across history it has consumed lives in the name of power while leaving little behind except fear and oppression. In our own time, the devastation in Gaza shows how far war can go when it turns into the genocide of civilians. Cities are reduced to rubble and entire families are erased for the sake of claiming land. The irony is timeless and cruel. As the old line asks, “How much land does a person need? Six feet from head to foot. Six feet is what a man needs, and nothing more.”
This is the backdrop against which The Higher Desires write and perform. The project, led by William Walbaum with guitarist Michael Stoican, builds its identity around the raw and urgent textures of alternative rock. That sound is never ornamental but instead carries a message of resistance and grief. Their latest single, Unknown Soldiers (Veterans Edition), is both a tribute and a critique.
Alternative rock proves to be the right medium here because its grit and emotional intensity amplify the weight of the subject matter. The band donates all royalties from the track to charities supporting veteran mental health, making the music itself an act of solidarity. The lyrics confront the heavy toll of violence and the unstoppable momentum of war, inviting listeners to face its human cost. At the close, Taps played on electric guitar transforms a traditional funeral call into a siren-like echo, raw and haunting, lingering in the music as a reminder of the silence and suffering left in the wake of conflict.
