Vestal Claret was created in 2005 by Phil Swanson with Simon Tuozzoli as an idea to an occult heavy metal / death rock project. Simon was running the studio Phil was recording at and asked if he would take part in the Vestal Claret recordings. "Blood Oath" and "The Templars Idol" were the first tracks spawned from this meeting. Jim Quinn originally of Upwards Of Endtime sessioned on theses recordings before Michael Petrucci joined the ranks full time.The two songs were recorded and released as the demo 'Two Stones' that were later released on the Atlantean Kodex / Vestal Claret split on Metal Coven Records.

Vestal Claret then received a contract to do a full Vestal Claret record based on the demo unfortunately the demo was rejected and the album scrapped as Phil shifted his focus and concepts to Hour Of Thirteen. There were some cover songs recorded and released with Tim Schmidt of Seamount on additional guitars, the covers were released in a super limited 100 copies CD titled 'Worship'. A DL bootleg of the pre-production rehearsal tracks called 'Ritual And Rehearsal' surfaced online in 2007 and a salvage enhanced cassette EP was released on Novisible Scars in 2009. Now after 4 years Vestal Claret has runited to complete their unfinished debut that has haunted them for so long. A 2 song 7" inch has been completed with the songs "Hex Of Harm" and "Allowance Of Sin" that will preview the upcoming full length that will feature a host of guest musicians from around the world that have been long time frinds and supporters. More info and official press release coming soon...

Source: ReverbNation