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Have you ever listened to an album and from the first moments you realized you didn’t like it but for some odd reason you couldn’t stop listening to it? Not like listening to something so bad that you keep listening out of sheer morbid fascination but rather there is something in the music that kind of draws you in whether you want it to or not. This is the exact feeling I got when I first listened to this album.

Monumentum is a band from Italy featuring the owner of the record label Avantgarde, Roberto Mammarella. With the owner of such a well-respected label you would expect this album to follow in the same vein as a lot of the artists that are on their talent roster considering the man isn’t going to hand out cash for music he doesn’t like himself. Well my guess was mostly correct in the fact that this is certainly a very dark and almost foreboding sounding album that also takes elements from ambient and gothic music as well. The reason I say that I was mostly correct is that this album has taken all those influences that I mentioned and has taken them all to a much higher level. At times the music seems as though you can almost see it as a physical thing (No I do not smoke crack…well at least not recently…heh). This is most certainly an album that would actually be very good for getting high or fucking (hell do both!!!…heh) as this is just overflowing with atmosphere and texture.

Now as I said before this is something I personally would really have to be in the right mood to listen to and I still stand by that statement. I don’t see this being an album that would ever get into a heavy rotation (well unless you get high and fuck a lot…lol). That being said however I could certainly see where the band was trying to go and I can appreciate that. Fans of the dark ambient/gothic style would be the most impressed by this album but if you have an open mind and are willing try anything at least once, go ahead and give this one a listen. Recommended.