Mono Inc. formed in Hamburg, Germany, in 2000. Inspired by heavy metal, dance music, and gloomy alternative rock, the group established a gothic rock sound that would prove to be quite popular in Germany, where Mono Inc. regularly cracked the Top 10 throughout the 2010s and early 2020s. Co-founders Miky Mono, Carl Fornia, Chad Hauger, and Martin Engler launched the band as "Mono69," then changed the group's name and added bassist Manuel Antoni to the roster in 2003. That same year, the band released its debut album, Head Under Water. The record was later reissued in 2004 with help from Mono Inc.'s new label, NoCut Entertainment. Miky Mono left the group during recording sessions for 2007's Temple Of The Torn, with Martin Engler replacing him as the band's frontman. Katha Mia joined the lineup, too, taking Engler's place as the band's new drummer. This revised roster released 2008's Pain, Love & Poetry and 2009's Voices of Doom. Two years later, Mono Inc. cracked the charts for the first time with 2011's Viva Hades, which reached Number 50 in Germany. 2012's career-shifting release After the War peaked at Number 6 and marked the first of seven Top 10 albums for the band, including Nimmermehr (2013), Terlingua (2015), Together Till the End (2017), and Welcome to Hell (2018). This momentum culminated in two back-to-back Number 1 releases: The Book of Fire, which reached Number 1 upon its release in 2020, and Ravenblack, which debuted at Number 1 in 2023.