How many times have I neglected to check out a band that others have told you to listen to, only to regret putting it off when you finally do give them a shot? I know I’ve done it tons of times, sometimes with bands that are universally regarded as classics.
In the case of Vestal Claret, I can remember their name being thrown around in various internet communities back in my high school days, when I was still a newbie to heavy music who obsessed over Soilwork and Killswitch Engage. While doubt I would have appreciated Ritual and Rehearsal or Two Stones as a teenager, it is still shameful that I went this long without listening to them, in no small part due to Phil Swanson’s involvement with Hour of 13. While I still have yet to explore their previous material, I have no regrets (besides, well, waiting this long) about starting with the newly-released, incredibly strong The Cult Of Vestal Claret.
Vestal Claret play an extremely catchy blend of old-school heavy metal and traditional Sabbath-y doom. Anyone familiar with The Lamp of Thoth or Second Grave will feel right at home with The Cult Of Vestal Claret – there is plenty of evil to be found on this record, but at the same time there is some fun, with ‘Three and Three are Six’ and ‘Great Goat God’ featuring a bit of swinging bounciness that makes Black Sabbath, Uncle Acid, and Trouble so catchy, while the Iron Maiden-esque melodies on ‘Piece of Meat’ sound relatively lighter despite the song’s extreme dark subject matter. However, that’s not to say that the album is a joyride; album opener ‘Never Say No Again’ is simply bludgeoning, and the title track is as foreboding and evil as they come. There is also the 16-minute titan ‘Black Priest,’ in which not a single moment of happiness is found.
While Phil Swanson’s presence is what initially drew me to the band, it is guitarist/bassist Simon Tuozzoli’s work that makes the album such a success. The Cult Of Vestal Claret is full of top-notch infectious doom riffs and just about every song on this album is an earworm. We even get a couple of bass solos on ‘Three and Three are Six’ and ‘Great Goat God,’ both of which display the same brilliant melodicism that define the album, and the subtle fretless bass tones on the softer ‘The Demon and the Deceiver’ only add to the melancholy of the song.
If you want a poster child for effective doom metal songwriting, you could do far worse than The Cult Of Vestal Claret. These songs will be stuck in your head for weeks, and where many modern doom bands go strictly for crushing, slow heaviness, Vestal Claret prove that the more melodic approach can be just as – if not more – effective.
