Monumentum (often typeset as MonumentuM) are an Italian gothic metal band formed in 1987 by Roberto Mammarella, founder of

Obscure Plasma Records Avantgarde Music is an Italian record label, formed as a continuation of Obscure Plasma Records, focusing on black and doom metal artists. The label had a sub-label called Wounded Love Records, which has released albums by Dolorian and Taake ...

(subsequently

Avantgarde Music Avantgarde Music is an Italian record label, formed as a continuation of Obscure Plasma Records, focusing on black and doom metal artists. The label had a sub-label called Wounded Love Records, which has released albums by Dolorian and Taake. ...

Biography

Monumentum were formed in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

in mid 1987 by

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

ist Roberto Mammarella and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...

Anthony Duman, who recruited

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

Mark Westfall and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...

Mox Cristadoro. Between December 1988 and April 1989, the band recorded and mixed the five-song demo ''Musaeum Hermeticum'', which was released as a limited edition cassette of 180 copies. Two tracks, "Nostalgia of the Infinite" and a cover of The Dead Relatives' "Nephtali", were selected by

for a split single with the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

band

Rotting Christ Rotting Christ is a Greek black metal band formed in 1987. They are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within this region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene. They are also responsible for creat ...

in 1991. Following a brief split, Monumentum were picked up by the predominantly black metal Norwegian label

Deathlike Silence Productions Deathlike Silence Productions (DSP) was a Norwegian independent record label founded in Oslo in 1987 (initially as Posercorpse Music) that focused on black metal. DSP supported the black metal revival in the early 1990s. Helvete was the headqu ...

. However, before the proposed album could be released, DSP owner

Øystein Aarseth Øystein Aarseth (; 22 March 1968 – 10 August 1993), better known by his stage name Euronymous, was a Norwegian musician and a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He was a co-founder and guitarist of the No ...

was murdered, leaving the band without a label. The album, ''In Absentia Christi'', recorded and mixed between August 1994 and May 1995, finally saw the light of day through the British label Misanthropy Records. The recording line-up featured two vocalists, in the form of Andrea Zanetti (of Italian act Iconoclast) and Francesca Nicoli (of

Ataraxia ''Ataraxia'' (Greek: ἀταραξία, from ("a-", negation) and ''tarachē'' "disturbance, trouble"; hence, "unperturbedness", generally translated as "imperturbability", "equanimity", or "tranquility") is a Greek term first used in Ancient Gr ...

), alongside Mammarella ("strings, keys and vibas"), Mox Cristadoro (drums) and Paolo Mauri ("samples, artistic production and wisdom"). The band claimed the album was influenced by the poets

Iginio Ugo Tarchetti Iginio (or Igino) Ugo Tarchetti (; 29 June 1839 – 25 March 1869) was an Italian author, poet, and journalist. Life Born in San Salvatore Monferrato, his military career was cut short by ill health, and in 1865 he settled in Milan. Here h ...

and

Giacomo Leopardi Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (, ; 29 June 1798 – 14 June 1837) was an Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist. He is considered the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and one o ...

, and included a cover of " Fade to Grey" by

Visage Visage may refer to: *A synonym of face *Visage Mobile, an American software as a service company *Visage, Georgia, a community in the United States * ''Visage'' (film), also known as ''Face'', a 2009 French film * ''Visage'' (video game), a surv ...

. Activity from the band became sparse until reuniting to record "The Colour of Compassion" for Misanthropy's anti-censorship compilation '' Presumed Guilty'' (1998); the line-up for this consisted of Mammarella, Cristadoro, Federico Simonetta (bass) and Daniele Bovo (keyboards). Further compilation appearances included the

Death SS Death SS (later also intended as a contraction of In Death of Steve Sylvester) is an Italian heavy metal band. Biography Death SS was formed in 1977 in Pesaro by Steve Sylvester (born Stefano Silvestri), a future member of the Ordo Templi Ori ...

tribute album ''Beyond the Realm of Death SS'', to which Monumentum contributed a cover of "Black & Violet". The line-up for this appearance consisted of Mammarella, Cristadoro, Bovo, Max Vaccaro (bass) and Jesuis Qui (vocals);''Beyond the Realm of Death SS'' liner notes. the latter is Cornelius Brastad of Solefald. Monumentum reunited in 2001 to record ''Ad Nauseam'' for

Tatra Productions Tatra may refer to: * Tatra Mountains, a mountain range in Slovakia and Poland ** Tatra County, an administrative division of Poland in the region of the Tatra Mountains ** Tatra National Park, Poland, a national park in Poland ** Tatra National ...

. The line-up had changed again; ''Ad Nauseam'' featured Mammarella, Andrea Bellucci on keyboards, Daniele Bovo on guitar and keyboards, Andrea Stefanelli (of Nuvula Neshua) and Alis Francesca Bos on vocals, Diego Danelli on bass and Elisa Carrera on drums, although the latter had to pull out midway through recording after getting pregnant.

Line-up

Current line-up

* Roberto Mammarella (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

)

Former members

* Andrea Bellucci ( keyboards) * Alis Francesca Bos (session vocals) * Daniele Bovo (guitar, keyboards) * Elisa Carrera (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

) * Mox Cristadoro (drums) * Diego Danelli (session

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

) * Anthony Duman (bass) * Paolo Mauri (samples, bass, engineering, mixing and artistic production) * Francesca Nicoli (of

; session vocals) * Federico Simonetta (bass) * Andrea Stefanelli (vocals) * Mark Westfall (vocals) * Andrea Zanetti (of Iconoclast; session vocals) * Max Vaccaro (bass)

Discography

* ''Musaeum Hermeticum'' (demo, 1989; re-released by

Necropolis Records Necropolis Records (located in Fremont, California) was a record label founded by Paul Thind in 1993, mainly providing an American home for extreme black metal.Rotting Christ Rotting Christ is a Greek black metal band formed in 1987. They are noted for being one of the first black metal bands within this region, as well as a premier act within the European underground metal scene. They are also responsible for creat ...

, 1991) * ''In Absentia Christi'' ( Misanthropy Records, 1995) * ''Ad Nauseam'' (

, 2002) * ''Metastasi'' (compilation, Cursed Land Entertainment, 2004)

References

External links

Interview with Roberto Mammarella for Nordic Vision magazine, 1993

Interview with Roberto Mammarella @ Doom-Metal.com
{{Authority control Italian gothic metal musical groups Italian black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1987