Vestal Claret is a band formed in Seymour, Connecticut, formed by Simon Tuozzoli and later joined by Phil Swanson. The band features a heavy occult style with plenty of heavy riffage and atmosphere on their record "The Cult Of Vestal Claret".

Some strings and guitars build atmosphere as we enter into the first song, "Never Say No Again", before it kicks into its main riff, a heavy chugging guitar groove that then gives way to some more complex guitar and bass moments after that. The vocals enter after a little while, and they are pretty awesome, with a very old school sound that is quite familiar in approach to those of Pentagram's Bobby Liebling, mixed with a little Ozzy Osbourne; there's plenty of attitude and bite to the vocals parts but they keep the melody well too. "Three And Three Make Six" is a great straight ahead song with a cool chorus and some great riffs that lead nicely into the melancholic sounding title track "The Cult Of Vestal Claret", with some cool riffs filled with the sound of dread, and a very tense sounding vocal overall. "Great Goat God" kicks up the pace a little with a bit more speed to the main riffs, and a cool overall groove too. "The Demon and The Deciever" has an awesome build up intro that really builds the tension, with a cool passionate vocal laid over the top as well and it continues to build up atmosphere throughout until we are introduced to the next song, "Piece Of Meat" which is another more energetic track, with some cool harmonized guitar riffs and a nice aggressive sounding vocal with a really menacing spoken word section about midway through.

"Black Priest" is certainly the epic of the album, with a lengthy build up towards later heavy sections. It's very well written, with lots of different moments, plenty of great guitar playing and vocals throughout, with some grooving sections and some more brooding moments too. Well worth checking out for fans of longer material like this. "Who Are You" follows this up with some more bizarre sounding riffs and synth sounds (in a good way) with some more great harmonised vocals over the top, and overall this one has a cool doom vibe to it. "The Stranger" closes the album with some clean guitars before getting heavier. This is a nice song with a chorus about saying goodbye in a dark way, which is quite apt as a way to finish off the album. This song has a nice guitar solo and some nice sounds overall.

The productions is pretty good, nice and gritty for that Doom kind of sound, but with well recorded instruments and vocals.

Overall this is a solid album, well worth checking out for fans of this style!

​​