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 forthcoming 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.
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“‘Garden of Stars’ … was one of the last songs I finished working on for the album,” Dadaian said, “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.”
Regarding the song’s complex structure, the guitarist added, “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.”
Rudess added, “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!”
The new LP follows up Dadaian’s debut album Follow the Light, which was released in 2019. “I wanted to build upon many of the things I introduced with that concept record,” stated the guitarist of his approach to the new album. “Revenant City follows it its footsteps with each track offering something unique that embodies my style as a musician.”
He continued, “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.”
You can stream the video for “Garden of Stars” below.
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