Upon first viewing the band members, one gets the idea that they're from a definite working-class background doubling as musicians in their spare time. However, after hearing their debut disc "December Dark," their musicianship quickly rises to the surface and you realize right away this is a very talented band that's indeed worked hard to arrive at the point they are today.

Hailing from the San Francisco Bay area, recognizable for producing such great metal artists as Metallica and Testament among others, "Tramontane" are the latest in an all too sporadic list of banner-waving heavy metal reformists. They do have a certain quality of freshness in their music, but there's little doubt that they've taken the position of trying to bring the classic metal sound, first adopted by those former greats, back into the spotlight.

The first thing I noticed in the middle of track number one, "Electric Gods," was a similarity to early Fates Warning, though not as technically demanding as they, and surprisingly better produced considering the circumstances of just starting out. Vocalist Norman Skinner heads a lineup that features three new members recruited to refine and re-establish what original founding guitarists Michael Morris and John Antonioli first envisioned, and it's heretofore apparent that they've done just that. Skinner's vocals are suitable to their wide-ranging style to say the least, and his high-pitched harmonic quality couldn't be mistaken to deliver anything but a strong metal performance. Of the six tracks (*or seven if the closer "Scorched Earth and "December Dark" are counted as two separately), their guidelines are not limited to only sizing up to a metal following, though it is at the core of their direction.

In following the demonstrative pounding of "Electric Gods," "Mabon's Gate" provides a sort of devilish mental printout that documents one at a conflicting crossroads tempted by necessity and foolhardy desire. It shares the lead role of the most aggressive numbers in the mix, along with the title track proceeding the "Scorched Earth" instrumental. The biggest surprise among this general state of heaviness would have to be "Another Time," which relies a great deal on its melodic structure and catchy chorus.

"Tramontane's" powerful debut is indeed the shot in the arm metal music is in need of, and what better place to start from than where so many of its pioneers first made their grand entrance. The material is strong in all areas of production. Ranging from the personal conflicts that surround the lyrical content, to the circuit blowing rhythms that embed the key-twisting instrumentals, to the soaring vocals, "Tramontane" challenges all who continue to ignore the thought of a heavy metal resurgence. Instead, "Tramontane" offers a profound act of defiance with "December Dark!"