Guitarist Steve Dadaian unveils new song “Soul Connection” featuring Soilwork’s Bjorn Strid: Stream
Classically-trained guitarist Steve Dadaian has been honing his craft for a number of years, recently entering a songwriting competition held by System of a Down singer Serj Tankian.
Now, Dadaian is set to release his debut album, Follow the Light, and he has teamed up with Heavy Consequence to unveil the track “Soul Connection” featuring vocals from Soilwork’s Bjorn “Speed” Strid and an intro theme provided by Tankian via the aforementioned competition.
Dadaian, a New Jersey native, has made waves in the guitar community with impressive showing at various competitions, some hosted by the likes of Slash and Dream Theater’s John Petrucci, while also performing at events alongside Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, and others.
Regarding the track, which can be heard in the lyric video below, Dadaian tells us, “This song is the only track with vocals on the entire album, so I knew I had to do something special with it. I wanted to preserve the intensity of the preceding songs while offering something new with ‘Soul Connection’. Enter vocal master Bjorn Strid — his talents helped make this an epic, standout track.”
He continues, “‘Soul Connection’ was inspired by the haunting first seven notes of the song. Lyrically, the idea is that even when those we are close to pass on, an intangible part of them stays with us from generation to generation. This theme ties into the main conceptual storyline of my album, as well.”
Meanwhile, Strid says of the track, “I think this collaboration really came out great. The topic is brilliant and is something I can definitely relate to.”
Dadaian, who like Tankian is Armenian-American, will donate all proceeds from the track “Soul Connection” to the Creative Armenia Fund, which is an arts foundation focused on discovering and promoting creative talent across the world.
The album’s nine songs follow an accompanying story written by Dadaian, who explains, “The story follows a mage who has been wandering in a forest in search of a citadel which has been considered folklore. The title Follow the Light refers to the light emanated from the top of the citadel he eventually finds. Though he felt lost, it was actually this light that drew him to his destination.”
Dadaian endorses DR strings, ESP Guitars, Synergy Amps, and Lunastone pedals, and he will appear at the Winter NAMM Show 2019 in Anaheim, California, where he will perform tracks from his new album at the DR Strings booth (4214 Hall D) on Friday, January 25 at 11 a.m. local time.
Follow the Light will arrive on February 1st, with pre-orders available via Bandcamp, iTunes and Amazon.
