“Of all the songs on the album, ‘Malefic Visions’ felt like the right way to start the journey for the listener. The ominous fingerstyle acoustic guitar arrangements tie all the layers of the song together, including the heavy rhythms and soaring leads found throughout. While a studio album can often reflect rehearsed, structured material, the intro and outro were taken from improvisations I did on my social media channels during the songwriting process, which is an approach I haven’t taken before. The contrast between the delicate acoustic passages and the crushing heaviness is stark, but intentional—and it’s in that tension that the song finds its identity. The album story opens in the middle of the ocean and just like the waves the song ebbs and flows. The accompanying visual, filmed in Brooklyn, New York, carries a haunting atmosphere that also mirrors the themes laid out in the album’s story.” – Steve Dadaian
Steve Dadaian’s second solo album, Revenant City, dropped Friday, May 9th, along with a new video. Check out “Malefic Visions” at Outburn now:
https://outburn.com/all-features/steve-dadaian-malefic-visions/
Steve Dadaian adds “This album was a follow up to my debut album Follow the Light (2019) and I wanted to build upon many of the things I introduced with that concept record. Revenant City follows it its footsteps with each track offering something unique that embodies my style as a musician. My background is varied, having a traditional classical guitar background as well as having a progressive metal influence on electric guitar, each song has these elements in different forms. Some songs (‘Shadowborne’, ‘Garden of Stars’) found collaboration with Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), a friend and icon who I’ve had the pleasure to work with multiple times including playing guitar on his recent solo album Permission to Fly (Sony/Inside Out).
For drums I also collaborated on certain songs (‘Barons of the Sky’, ‘The Story of Life’) with Marco Minnemann who I’ve also worked with on previous projects. The demo process began the winter after my debut album was released with my mix engineer and fellow guitarist Redvard Dolanski. We worked on a series of songs I had in the works. Once things began taking shape, I was eventually fortunate to work with guitar legend Kiko Loureiro (ex-Megadeth) who helped direct and give valuable feedback on my music under his mentorship. Working with such notable musicians took this album to a new level, I could not have imagined otherwise.
This album saw additional production and greater scope of the music. The progressive metal elements are reinforced with orchestral ones that give an epic feel. Each song tells its own story, based on the fantasy story elements introduced in my first album. Incorporating some of my other interests in movies and games, I was also fortunate to have the album cover art done by the talented lead concept artist Ilya Nazarov, known for his work in the gaming industry (Lord of the Rings, Fallout), who really captured the visual elements I was aiming for from my concept sketches. The cover shows a fiery, floating city, the Revenant City, where the album takes place. From start to finish, the album has songs I’m very proud of and that I hope keeps the listener engaged for its near hour running time. Between the varied playing styles, compositions, and more the album presents, I’m hoping to also present a new evolution in the virtuoso guitar approach that combines next-level performances with cohesive songwriting. As a whole, it represents my best playing to date that I am excited to share with the world.”
Steve Dadaian premiered the first single/video “Garden of Stars” from the new album at Consequence on March 24th, which posted “Guitar virtuoso Steve Dadaian is premiering his new song ‘Garden of Stars,’ featuring Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess, exclusively via Heavy Consequence.
The track, from Dadaian’s new album Revenant City, is a five-minute progressive metal workout that features copious shredding from the guitarist, who steers the arrangements with his axework. Note-y lead passages are balanced with lush, neoclassical parts that are filled out by Rudess.
The music video is particularly eye-opening and offers a glimpse into the sheer musical ability on display. Dadaian and Rudess look to have captured footage of their respective takes, with the latter playing along to the sheet music. Even the DT keyboard master appears exasperated during some of the song’s faster runs, as Dadaian pushes his collaborator to the limit.”
The second single and title track, featuring drummer Ethan Bill, premiered April 14th at Metal Injection. Read more here: https://metalinjection.net/video/steve-dadaian-streams-proggy-new-single-revenant-city
About Steve Dadaian:
Steve Dadaian is an award winning guitar virtuoso from New Jersey. His style combines classical, fingerstyle guitar stylings with technical and emotive lead and rhythm playing on electric guitar. Blending elements of modern progressive rock, metal, fusion and classical, he has become a respected player in the world of instrumental music, pushing the boundaries of what the guitar can express, such as guitar arrangements on 9 string classical guitar. While the songs often display fretboard acrobatics, the wide scope of his songs include strong melodies and grand orchestral components. Notable performances include opening for guitar icons Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen. He was previously nominated by Rolling Stone as a “Next Young Gun” and has also done educational videos and content for other major publications such as Guitar World. Dadaian has also recently been featured as the guitarist on Jordan Rudess’ (Dream Theater) solo album Permission to Fly where he played all acoustic, classical, and electric rhythm guitars as well as main leads. His debut solo album Follow the Light was released in 2019 and his sophomore album Revenant City is a tour-de-force of epic guitar performance. He proudly endorses ESP Guitars and DR Strings.
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