Out May 9th; Featuring Jordan Rudess, Marco Minnemann, & Redvard Dolanski

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"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 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

The first single "Garden of Stars" featuring Jordan Rudess premiered at Consequence on March 24th.

""Garden of Stars" featuring Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) was one of the last songs I finished working on for the album and when I presented it to Jordan, he added elements that not only completed but elevated the song. It's a great representation of modern progressive metal and the album itself with heavy riffs, technical and melodic leads, and orchestral arrangements. It opens with a unison lead between both of us to set the stage and even in sections where the keyboard leads aren't apparent, Jordan arranged ambient textures to follow the chord changes. The collaboration was very natural and casual as we were working on ideas in his studio; it turned out to be one of my favorite tracks on the album!" - Steve Dadaian

"I've had the pleasure to work with Steve Dadaian on a number of songs, both on my own album and his upcoming release Revenant City. Not only is his guitar playing off the charts, his songwriting and musicianship is also next level which I really value and sets him apart. We had a lot of fun with this one; the leads are energetic and the ambient and orchestral parts add a whole different dimension I think listeners will love. I'm looking forward to everyone hearing "Garden of Stars" and all our future collaborations together!" - Jordan Rudess 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.