Wretched Blessing are a band formed in Chicago by Kayhan Vaziri (Yautja, Coliseum) and Rae Amitay (Immortal Bird, Thrawsunblat) in 2023 as a close and fully collaborative duo.
It is an intentional and unrestrained effort to explore the vast spectrum of metal and punk — without microgenre commitments. The band is a cogent and compelling two-piece live, with Vaziri on guitar/vocals and Amitay on drums/vocals.
Wretched Blessing's debut self-titled EP seamlessly combines death metal, black metal, hardcore, and punk for 16 minutes, with each song blending genres in shifting proportions. The lyrics delve into systems of oppression, cronyism, and pure anger. It was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Pete Grossmann (Weekend Nachos, Frail Body, Inclination) and recorded in January 2024 at Bricktop Studios in Chicago. The cover artwork is 'eye rustle' (2017) by Kikyz1313.
The music will appeal to fans of Bolt Thrower, Celtic Frost, His Hero Is Gone, Napalm Death, Integrity, and Pig Destroyer. Pre-order the EP here.
Today, the band has shared "Spurious Ovation."
The song had its premiere via Decibel.
"This is the first song we wrote for this project, and we wanted to cover a lot of stylistic ground while still keeping things tight," says Vaziri. "Lyrically, it's about people who fixate on the projections and perceived lives of others. It's criticizing that behavior, directed toward people who are willfully rotting their minds."
Amitay shares, "Almost everyone employs these parasitic forms of interaction that have been engineered to waste our time and exploit our instability. This song is placing the ire more upon people who seem untroubled, and consumed by these shallow environments."
Both members of Wretched Blessing are multifaceted musicians, having spent most of their lives recording, touring, and performing different roles in various bands since they were teenagers. Vaziri is known primarily as a dynamic and dextrous bassist, though some know him as the high-powered and inexhaustible frontman of Birmingham, AL's long-loved hardcore favorites Legion. Wretched Blessing adds Vaziri in the lead (and sole) guitarist role, front and center, for the first time. Amitay started as an ambitious and adept teen drummer, and in 2011 they were recruited to play for Canadian black/doom metal band Woods of Ypres while still attending Berklee College of Music, shortly before the band came to an end. They subsequently joined Thrawsunblat, a band comprising the final Woods of Ypres lineup. They also played on the post-metal/experimental Eight Bells album Landless recorded in Portland, Oregon by Billy Anderson (Sleep, Melvins, Pallbearer). Following several drummer-for-hire stints, they founded Immortal Bird (20 Buck Spin) in 2013.
The convergence of Amitay and Vaziri's bands took place in 2014 when Yautja (Relapse Records) and Immortal Bird shared the stage for the first time at Southern Darkness Fest in Tampa. A mutual respect was born from there — the bands would continue to closely orbit each other, aligning occasionally on bills with Inter Arma (Relapse), Stress Positions (Three One G), Portrayal of Guilt, and more over the years. In 2021, Amitay and Vaziri found themselves in need of mutual surroundings, and Vaziri relocated to Chicago in early 2022. Wretched Blessing was born from a mutual desire to create music in a way that isn’t limited by stylistic expectations or a particular genre.
"It's exciting to have a new outlet where we can essentially write whatever we want to hear and play, pooling our inuences and strengths. It's not a catch-all for ideas that don’t fit our other bands, it's a project that we want to fully realize over several recordings, live performances, and visual art," says Amitay.
Vaziri adds, "It took a while for us to decide it was time to get into a room and start writing, but once we did, the songs took shape quickly. When we started messing with vocals and heard how distinct but symbiotic our voices sound together, we knew we wanted to make this band as 'real' as possible."