Cover photo: Dweller in the Valley, photographed by Tyler W. Davis

The word grimoire is almost always connected with the occult, but that is a modern association. Originally a term for any book written in Latin, grimoire became a figure of speech in France for anything that was hard to understand. It wasn’t until the 19th century that people started using that word to refer to books of magic.

However it’s used, grimoire is a powerful and evocative word. It’s also a great name for a record label, especially one as unique as Baltimore-based heavy metal label Grimoire Records.

A rarity at the independent level (or any other level, really), Grimoire functions as a remote recording studio, recording each band in their respective practice spaces, mixing and mastering those recordings, and guiding the band through the artistic and aesthetic decisions involved in packaging the album.

All that work, and more, is done by Grimoire co-founders Noel Mueller and Phil Doccolo, who have been friends since 2005. Noel was a member of sludge metal band Questioner, and Phil is currently the singer and principal lyricist of jazz-metal band Snakefeast.

The division of labor is flexible, but it generally works out that Noel records the bands, engineers the audio, and acts as the label’s artistic director, while Phil handles orders, customer service, and A&R duties as the defacto public face of Grimoire that goes to shows and makes connections with bands and promoters.

For two guys who run a label dedicated to the extremes of heavy metal, the origin story of their friendship is adorable. Their parents were friends and basically introduced them, at which point, according to Noel, “our families became weirdly intertwined.” Noel’s dad, an audio engineer who once toured with ZZ Top, ran a small software company headquartered in the Doccolo family basement, which became a hub for Noel and Phil’s shared hobbies. Music ended up dominating, and Phil introduced Noel to unorthodox Baltimore venues like Charm City Art Space, which got Noel more involved with the local scene.

Inspired by his dad’s road stories and his own burgeoning interest in it, Noel studied audio engineering at Sheffield so he could record his own band, but soon found that recording other bands was much more rewarding for him. The idea of actually starting a label came after he met and recorded Oakland, MD punk/metal band Cavern, who asked him to provide artwork and press CDs for them. Noel did what was asked of him and found himself loving the process.

“I knew I was going to want to keep doing it,” he told me, and made a goal to “find more bands and keep doing this.”

Phil, meanwhile, had already been thinking about starting a label to help boost Baltimore’s own Heaviness of the Load, so when Noel approached him about starting what would become Grimoire, he was all for it.

Early on, they both decided that “this isn’t a job for either of us,” deciding instead to support it with other jobs, giving them the freedom to curate which bands they work with and keep things fun for everybody involved.

That freedom has led to some incredible finds. While Grimoire is very much a heavy metal-focused record label, both Phil and Noel are drawn to “atypical” bands that blend different elements of music and have confidence in their live sound.

“We keep finding bands that are our first,” Noel told me.

Grimoire also has a knack for pairing their bands with great art and design, a process that Noel defines as “the juxtaposition between serene art and savage music.” As the resident art director, Noel maintains a network of visual artists to recommend to bands and guides them through the artistic decisions involved with their packaging. He’s not above fielding suggestions from the bands themselves, though, and has met a number of great artists through the people he’s recorded.

This flexible approach makes sure that Grimoire’s albums stand out from the pack visually; in a scene full of bands who don’t stray far from the same limited visual library, Grimoire albums invoke curiosity without misrepresenting their contents.

The emphasis on working with solid live bands has paid off richly too, as Grimoire bands routinely have great rhythm sections that lend an unexpected approachability to each band’s heavy, dark, and dramatic music.

Look, there’s nothing worse than bad black metal. Playing that fast and hard and keeping consistent time requires a certain skill level that a lot of bands in the genre just don’t have. The worst case scenarios are sloppy to the point where it sounds like every member of the band is playing a different song.

So far, every band Grimoire has released is a powerhouse with obvious talent. You don’t have to be a die-hard, heavy metal lifer to listen to Torrid Husk or Dweller In The Valley and understand what they’re doing. Neither band waters down their approach to black metal for a broad audience, but the confidence and demonstrated ability both bands possess will draw listeners in; they’re simply too good to be ignored. Black Lung, who combine a blues-influenced groove and rock ‘n roll vocal swagger with crushing heaviness and volume (especially at their live shows) have been getting well-deserved rave reviews for their recent Grimoire release, and are heading back to Europe soon for another tour.

Phil played me some preview tracks from Vermörd, a band from White Marsh whose oldest member is 19, and it’s some of the fastest, most technically impressive music I’ve ever heard, metal or not. Again, there’s a confidence in their music that pushes them beyond the expectations of their genre.

Fans aren’t the only ones impressed by the label’s output thus far. Now that they’ve got a decent back catalog, Grimoire releases are getting reviews and online press without any solicitation from Grimoire, and they’re building an email list to increase that outreach. They’re also moving into releasing albums on vinyl, which will get them thinking harder about finding national distribution for the bands they record.

Grimoire’s first planned vinyl release will be an album by Barbelith, whose music sounds like the sinking of Atlantis, and the costs will be split with Appalachian label Fragile Branch. Vinyl is a big deal in independent music—the barrier of entry is much higher than cassettes or CDs—and Phil and Noel hope to gain legitimacy by doing more with it.

Other labels are picking up Grimoire bands for vinyl releases, which is already a good omen for the label’s future. “Psh-psh! Big baller!” is how Phil phrases their combined sense of accomplishment.

As it stands now, Grimoire sells almost half of their stock to the bands at cost; their direct sales from customers are mostly online. Surprisingly, cassette tapes account for almost half of Grimoire’s sales.

More surprisingly, 40% of Grimoire’s direct sales are international; Phil has shipped Grimoire albums all over the planet, including China, South Korea, Egypt, and South America.

While they’re certainly happy to have a global fanbase, Grimoire takes its commitment to local music very seriously. At the moment, they only record bands within reasonable driving distance of Baltimore, and take great pride in helping local bands gain more recognition. They also credit Baltimore’s very active music scene for a lot of their success.

“There’s such a wealth of musical acts in this area,” Phil said, adding that “this couldn’t happen in Kansas.”

Noel agreed, saying that this part of the East Coast is “the best possible place to be in a band or start a label.” Not only is there a venue every 45 minutes, but promoters here actually go to local shows, and the bevy of national touring acts coming through town every year makes it easier to give opportunities to local bands.

Beyond the music scene, Baltimore’s enthusiastic arts community has boosted Grimoire’s name, too. Phil remarked that the friends he’s made through local performing arts were eager to support what he was doing, even if they weren’t familiar with metal. He was one of them and they wanted to help, because that’s what Baltimore is. Many of them are still along for the ride.

If we fuse together the two accepted definitions of grimoire, we have a collection of strange texts that, once fully understood, can change you forever. I think that’s perfect for Grimoire Records.