In the words of Jon Oliva, Savatage's lead singer and co-founder:

"'The Unholy' is also based upon such a short horror story written by me. Pure fiction also. The subject is the origin of evil. One day, thousands of years ago, evil must have settled itself within humanity and that's what the song is all about. It's about the way evil came to earth, along with the arrival of extraterrestrial beings from another universe."