Adamant and similar words are used to refer to any especially hard substance, whether composed of diamond, some other gemstone, or some type of metal. Both adamant and diamond derive from the Greek word αδαμαστος (adamastos), meaning "untameable". Adamantite and adamantium (a metallic name derived from the Neo-Latin ending -ium) are also common variants.

Adamantine has, throughout ancient history, referred to anything that was made of a very hard material. Virgil describes Tartarus as having a screeching gate protected by columns of solid adamantine (Aeneid book VI). Later, by the Middle Ages, the term came to refer to diamond, as it was the hardest material then known, and remains the hardest non-synthetic material known.

It was in the Middle Ages, too, that adamantine hardness and the lodestone's magnetic properties became confused and combined, leading to an alternate definition in which "adamant" means magnet, falsely derived from the Latin adamare, which means to love or be attached to. Another connection was the belief that adamant (the diamond definition) could block the effects of a magnet. This was addressed in chapter III of Pseudodoxia Epidemica, for instance.

Stahlmann is a German band that formed in 2008 in Göttingen, Germany. It is in the genre of Neue Deutsche Härte.

History

Martin Soer, the vocalist of the band, met Alexander Scharfe, the guitarist, and both soon realized that they like the same kind of music, Neue Deutsche Härte. Later that year, they started the band, Stahlmann, and started writing their own songs.

They soon met Tobias Berkefeld, who also owned a guitar. After having the members in the band, they decide to do a live performance. For concerts, they invite a third guitarist and drummer.

At this time, the group had no name. The idea arose while eating at a barbecue. "Actually, we were sitting in front of Alex and barbecuing and I was just thinking, 'OK, the name should somehow represent us,' and then it came by itself." says lead singer, Martin.

Thus the concept for their band was formed. Before concerts, all three members would paint themselves silver paint, wear black suits, and use heavy lighting.

In 2009, their debut EP, Herzschlag, got to the top twenty in German alternative charts and settled there for four weeks. Thanks to this, another group noticed them and invited them to tour with bands such as Doro, In Extremo, and Saltatio Mortis. They also worked in Göttingen in concerts, opening for Eisbrecher, and that is where they found their audience.

Adamant is a poetic term used to refer to any especially hard substance. It may also refer to:

See also