Raintimes, the new melodic rock project featuring Italian musicians Pierpaolo “Zorro” Monti (Charming Grace, Shining Line) and Davide Barbieri (Wheels Of Fire, Charming Grace) together with singer Michael Shotton (Von Groove), will release their debut album on December 1st.

The lineup on the album is completed by Sven Larsson, Andrea Gipponi, and Ivan Gonzalez. A lyric video for the track “Forever Gone” can be found below.

Pierpaolo “Zorro” Monti states: “’Forever Gone’ is a very special song that I begun writing during the sessions of my Shining Line debut. I continued writing the song with the idea of making an album in the style of The Storm, so I asked Dave to add a few parts to complete its structure, and recorded the first demo the same day. We were very excited with the final result! Raintimes is the album that I really wanted to use as a sort of tribute to my love and admiration for The Storm. I have played to death their two albums (especially Eye Of The Storm). Their tempos, steeped in pure melodic class, are the perfect crossroad between AOR and melodic rock. The choice of Shotton as frontman was based not only on my love for his talents, but because I wanted to give a strong personality to the album and make the music more personal and original.”

Pre-order the new album here.

Tracklisting:

“Forever Gone”
“Make My Day”
“Don’t Ever Give Up”
“Swan”
“I Need Tonight”
“Raintimes”
“Just A Little Bit More”
“Empty Days”
“Together As Friends”
“Missing Piece”
“I See The Light”

“Forever Gone” lyric video:

Band lineup:

Michael Shotton - Lead & Backing Vocals
Iván González - Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Sven Larsson - Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Davide Barbieri - Keyboards & Backing Vocals
Andrea Gipponi - Bass & Fretless Bass
Pierpaolo Monti - Drums & Percussion

Special guests:

Niclas Olsson - Keyboards on “I Need Tonight”
Philip Lindstrand - Backing Vocals on “I Need Tonight”
Alessandro Del Vecchio: Keyboards & Backing Vocals on “Just A Little Bit More”
Erica Trovato: Backing Vocals on “Together As Friends”
Jesús Espín: Backing Vocals on “Missing Piece”
Daniel Flores: Percussion on “I See The Light”
Michele Luppi: Keyboards on “I See The Light”