Less than a year after their debut self-titled EP—a release that tore through black metal, death metal, hardcore, grind, and punk with an unapologetic force—Chicago’s Wretched Blessing has been pushing forward relentlessly.
The past months saw them hit the road with Portrayal of Guilt, sell out their first tape pressing, drop a music video for “Anathematic,” and contribute guest vocals to No Cure’s track “The Basement Beneath the Fountain.” Now, before unveiling their next EP of original material, they’re stepping into a different kind of intensity: two Deftones covers.
Wretched Blessing’s versions of “Elite” and “My Own Summer (Shove It)“—recorded in January 2025 with Adrian Kobziar in Chicago and mixed/mastered by Pete Grossmann (Immortal Bird, Weekend Nachos, Frail Body)—landed on March 3rd across streaming platforms. The duo, consisting of Kayhan Vaziri (guitar/vocals) and Rae Amitay (drums/vocals), has been longtime Deftones fans, making this release as natural as it is ferocious.
Vaziri and Amitay trace their connection to Deftones back to their childhoods. For Vaziri, it started just before White Pony dropped. “They kind of broke my brain,” he admits. Amitay remembers discovering Deftones and Korn on the same day in eighth grade. “The first song I heard was ‘Headup’ and it blew my mind.”
The decision to cover “Elite” came naturally after the band started playing it live. “We had so much fun that we wanted to record it,” says Vaziri. With extra studio time, they added “My Own Summer (Shove It),” another favorite from their formative years. “Deftones have had a huge impact on us. They’re childhood favorites, but they’ve never left our rotation,” Amitay explains.
Some bands take covers as an opportunity for reinvention. Wretched Blessing chose a different approach. “We stuck pretty close to the original while adding our own bit of flavor,” says Vaziri. The raw, stripped-down nature of the duo’s setup inherently reshaped the songs, with some structural tweaks along the way. “We definitely cut out a whole section of ‘Elite’ as a way to kind of summarize it and added a little blast to the end of ‘My Own Summer,’” he notes.
Amitay, for her part, took a deep dive into the drumming nuances. “When we played ‘Elite’ live, I was getting the general idea, but there were some sweet Abe Cunningham choices that I was overlooking and absolutely needed to emulate on our recordings,” she says. “Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt, but going over these songs so intently made me appreciate them even more.”
With a new Deftones album looming, speculation is inevitable. Vaziri remains in the dark about what to expect but acknowledges the band’s ever-evolving sound. “I was a big fan of Ohms, which I thought was progressive as an album, but also a good mixture of everything Deftones. I wouldn’t mind a super heavy turn either. The shift from White Pony to Self-Titled, and then again from Saturday Night Wrist to Diamond Eyes, was so heavy.”
Amitay echoes the sentiment, confident that whatever direction the band takes will be worth hearing. “We don’t think there’s a ‘bad’ Deftones album, and I love how different but ‘signature’ they’ve sounded over the years. I hope they take some weird risks. Maybe there’ll be another heavy-as-hell (but still super atmospheric and catchy) record like Koi No Yokan or Diamond Eyes.”
While the Deftones covers offer a temporary diversion, Wretched Blessing’s real focus is their next EP. The band recently finished recording with Pete Grossmann, a producer known for his work with Inclination, Frail Body, and Weekend Nachos. “We’ve got rough mixes with more on the way, and it’ll have a more formal release announcement next month,” they confirm.
As for the sound? “It definitely has similarities to our first EP, but we’re also trying to expand a bit,” they explain. “Things are blackened, deathy, hardcore-oriented, and there’s a good deal of post-metal and genre-melty stuff happening.”
Their 2024 debut already made it clear: Wretched Blessing isn’t afraid to challenge conventions, both musically and politically. Their first EP, released via Two Mongrels Recordings, was a scathing, 16-minute barrage tackling cronyism, antifascism, and colonialism. Tracks like “Anathematic” and “Pseudoascension” wielded sonic fury as a weapon against societal rot.
If their upcoming material builds on that foundation, expect something uncompromising, relentless, and confrontational.
