American Power Metal Outfit
SIEGE PERILOUS
Release Album
‘Becoming The Dragon’
track-list:
Overture (Instrumental)
Ancient Rite
As the Dragon Falls (feat. Fabio Lione)
Child of Prophecy
Shattered Mirage
Chieftain
Cut Down
Echoes of Home (feat. Kristin Starkey)
Becoming the Dragon
Eschaton
produced, mixed & mastered by
Alex Carrillo
Siege Perilous are:
Shaughnessy McDaniel – vocals
Scott Hancock – guitar
Ryan Flanagan – guitar
Eric Fischer – bass, violin
Mark Girard – drums
New Noise Magazine:
“…a genre-defining concept album for the modern era.”
Overtone Magazine:
“A true journey from start to finish… 44 minutes of grandiose heavy metal… insanely good songwriters… this feels like something truly special.”
My Global Mind Magazine:
“A strong debut… maturing songwriting… epic, fantasy-themed storytelling… a band with plenty of untapped potential.”
With ‘Becoming the Dragon‘, Colorado power metal storytellers Siege Perilous step into their most ambitious chapter yet, delivering a sweeping concept album that blurs the line between cinematic narrative and high-impact metal songwriting.
Conceived as both a cohesive journey and a collection of standalone tracks, the record reflects a deliberate creative vision, one that balances storytelling depth with immediate musical power.
“One of the big goals was to create a narrative concept album experience while also allowing each individual track to stand on its own,”
explains vocalist Shaughnessy McDaniel.
“Whether you’re listening front to back or revisiting a favorite song, both experiences should feel rich and fulfilling.”
That duality lies at the heart of the album’s creation.
Beginning in early 2024, the band mapped out the overarching story first, breaking it into key narrative moments that would later evolve into individual songs.
Each member gravitated toward specific story beats, contributing ideas that were then collectively shaped, refined, and expanded.
The result is an album that feels both unified and diverse – each track carrying its own identity while feeding into a larger, immersive arc.
Visually, the album’s scope is captured in striking detail through the artwork by Leighton Buxman, which depicts the story’s climactic transformation as the protagonist embraces his destiny and becomes the dragon.
The imagery blends dark and high fantasy aesthetics, enriched with subtle references to key moments across the album – from the banner of the ‘Chieftain‘ to the crystalline fragments of ‘Shattered Mirage‘.
It’s a visual extension of the band’s narrative ambition, reinforcing the world they’ve built sonically.
At its core, ‘Becoming the Dragon‘ follows the journey of the ‘Child of Prophecy‘ – a figure caught between fate and free will.
Across ten tracks, the story unfolds through shifting emotional and musical landscapes:
from ominous beginnings and heroic clashes to moments of doubt, loss, and eventual transformation.
Songs like ‘As the Dragon Falls‘, featuring Fabio Lione, twist classic fantasy tropes into darker territory, while ‘Echoes of Home‘, elevated by Kristin Starkey’s guest performance, delivers one of the album’s most vulnerable and emotionally charged moments.
Elsewhere, tracks such as ‘Chieftain‘ and ‘Cut Down‘ channel raw, traditional heavy metal energy, underscoring the protagonist’s descent into conquest and self-realization.
Musically, the album draws from a broad palette melding the galloping force of classic heavy metal with the grandeur of symphonic and power metal influences.
Yet despite its scale, the record never loses sight of its emotional core.
Each composition is carefully aligned with the narrative it serves, ensuring that the music doesn’t just accompany the story – it drives it.
Formed in 2021 out of a shared passion for storytelling, fantasy, and the immersive spirit of live-action roleplay, Siege Perilous have steadily built their identity as a band that values narrative as much as musicianship.
Their fully collaborative writing approach, while demanding, has resulted in a record that carries the imprint of every member – a creative synergy that gives ‘Becoming the Dragon‘ both depth and authenticity.
On stage, that vision extends even further.
Siege Perilous aim to transform their performances into living extensions of their stories, merging high-energy delivery with theatrical flair.
It’s not just a concert.
It’s an invitation into a world of myth, conflict, and transformation.
With ‘Becoming the Dragon‘, Siege Perilous don’t just present an album – they offer an experience.
One that embraces the grandeur of power metal while carving out a distinct identity rooted in storytelling, collaboration, and the timeless pull of epic fantasy.
American Fantasy Power Metal Quintet
SIEGE PERILOUS
Released EP
‘Creation’s Call’
track-list:
Oathsworn
Across the Rubicon
Sons of the Verdant
Creation’s Call
Brothers of the Five
written by Scott Hancock, Eric Fischer, Shaughnessy McDaniel, Mark Girard
produced,mixed and mastered by Nick Nordurft, Rusty Sun Audio
Siege Perilous are:
Shaughnessy McDaniel – vocals
Scott Hancock – guitar
Cody Martinez – guitar
Eric Fischer – bass
Mark Girard – drums
discography:
EP
The NWOTHM (9/10)
“Epic Power Metal for the Working Man… the band gets right to the point and pulls you into their epic tales immediately… a breath of fresh air… highly recommended.”
Maximum Volume Music (8.5/10)
“A world of fantasy where metal rules and swords are held high… a hell of an opening statement… twin guitars and a brilliant metal voice drive it home.”
Metalheads Forever Magazine (9.3/10)
“A varied EP that never gets boring, even on heavy rotation… five gifted musicians… leaves you wanting a full-length album.”
Influenced by LARP, historical events and fantasy literature, Denver-based power metal outfit Siege Perilous has once again ignited the flames of epic storytelling with their second EP ‘Creation’s Call‘.
Set to enrapture audiences with its fantastical lyrics and thunderous guitar riffs, ‘Creation’s Call‘ invites listeners into realms of adventure and wonder.
Siege Perilous
“With each song we undertook the interesting if not daunting task of trying to build a world and tell a story in 3-5 minutes. We are hoping that each track successfully transports the listener to that place to experience the story first hand. I’ve always found that the escapism of heavy metal and power metal was one of its best qualities and the ability to leave the world behind for a bit to enter the worlds of fantasy and heavy metal being something that got me through some really tough times in my youth, and that’s a huge motivator for me for creating this band and behind the way we try to craft the listener experience into our songs.”
It’s all centered around Epic storytelling even if those stories are somewhat varied.
“We wanted the tones and moods to display range in both songwriting and playing while also conveying a cohesive sound and feel all centered around telling epic fantasy stories.”
‘Oathsworn‘:
“This song centers around a great riff with an epic phaser effect on it to convey the sense of being transported and whipped around through time. It tells the story about a band of adventurers who when faced with a world-ending evil are flung back in time in order to have a chance to try and save the world.”
“‘Oathsworn’ comes from a Live-Action Roleplaying (LARP) storyline from the LARP that 4 out of the 5 band members play. Scott and Eric are the heads of the plot team and create fantasy stories for the group (sometimes 50-75 players in a weekend) to play out on a monthly basis.”
‘Across the Rubicon‘:
“This song uses a marching cadence and heavy chorus hook to tell the story of the fall of the Roman Republic from the perspective of one of Caesar’s legionaries, telling the story of one of history’s most famous points of no-return. One of the most unique features of this song is the final chorus which is written in Latin and checked by several scholars of Roman history.”
‘Sons of the Verdant‘:
“This song has an interesting combination of dark and triumphant. The story is a fantasy version of a story we see repeated throughout history, that of native resistance to colonizing oppressors. One of the cool things about fantasy is the ability to take these universal themes and be able to apply them without having to point at one group of people and borrow their story, especially since there are so many instances of it from Antiquity to Modern Day. This is probably one of our most musically complex songs, featuring longer and more varied instrumental sections, having vocals be almost more of a punchy accent than the driving force, hitting at the right times while really letting the amazing instrumentalists in the band rock out.”
‘Creation’s Call‘:
“This song is a darker high fantasy take on Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror ideas. It’s a fantasy answer to the question ‘What would happen if you could speak directly to God?’ The character slowly losing his mind. So this is a rather dark song overall showing the protagonist’s descent into madness.”
‘Brothers of the Five‘:
“This song is probably the most Power Metal song that we have ever done. A massive, epic and triumphant sound that shows the brighter side of the genre. The song itself centers around a group of heroic knights that live their life by five tenets: honor, integrity, resilience, willpower, and command.”
The cover for ‘Creation’s Call‘ shows Aeon, the time dragon, breathing life into the Universe.
In ‘Creation’s Call‘ Aeon begins to communicate with the song’s protagonist, making him slowly go insane.
The band loves to wear big fantasy costumes on-stage.
The lead singer, Shaughnessy, even wears steel chainmail armor to help him feel like a fantasy warrior and each band member has a different kind of persona, roughly equating to a Dungeons and Dragons-style class.
(Shaughnessy-Warrior, Eric-Bard, Mark-Druid, Scott-Wizard, Cody-Rogue)
3 of the members are coming from previously successful and well-known bands but that are outside the metal genre.
Mark Girard from horror punk band 13 Nails while Shaughnessy McDaniel and Eric Fischer were previously bandmates in the raunchy Celtic Folk Band, The Stubby Shillelaghs.