Sacred Warrior is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

heavy metal band formed in 1988 and based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Their music is often compared to that of

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

Background

The band was formed out of a general market metal band known as Nomad, which formed in 1985. Subsequent to the conversion of guitarist Bruce Swift to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, he led fellow band members Tony Velasquez and Rey Parra. He also converted Rick Macias, who had been a

bouncer A bouncer (also known as a doorman or door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, stripclubs, casinos, hotels, billiard halls, restaurants, sporting events, schools, concerts, or m ...

at a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

. Their first album, ''Rebellion'', was released in 1988 and supported its release on a tour with Rez in 1989. The album impressed Dave Reynolds, who rated it with KKKK1/2 on its review for Kerrang! in February 1989: "It actually had my head banging away for all it's worth!". Later that year, ''Master's Command'' was released, featuring guest vocals from

Vengeance Rising Vengeance Rising was an American Christian thrash metal band from Los Angeles, California. Fronted by vocalist Roger Martinez, they originally formed as Vengeance in 1987, but changed their name in 1989 to avoid conflict with another band from t ...

frontman Roger Martinez. Their third release, ''Wicked Generation'', was considered a partial concept album about a young person struggling with life seeking hope. Their fourth album was 1991's ''Obsessions'', a more straightforward melodic metal album. The band initially broke up in 1994. The band performed at a reunion show in 2001 at the

Cornerstone Festival Cornerstone Festival was a Christian music festival put on by Jesus People USA and held annually around July 4 near Bushnell, Illinois, drawing some 20,000 attendees each year. In a given year, many artists that played at Cornerstone also playe ...

which was recorded and released on CD later that year. In 2008, the band reformed and began performing shows. Keyboardist Rick Macias died on February 9, 2009. On April 23, 2012, lead vocalist Rey Parra announced he has left the band due to time constraints and distance issues. He lives in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, while the rest of the band is from the

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

area. Parra rejoined the band in 2016 and released the single "Slave" in advance of a full album. He left Sacred Warrior again in 2019 to focus on a new band after releasing "Blood River" as a single. In 2020, after a nationwide search, Erik Schelling, another native of the Chicago area, joined the band as lead vocalist. The band is currently writing and recording new music at Gathering Storm Media in Aurora, Illinois. They released a single and music video in the summer of 2020, reprising the old worship song “On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand”.

Discography

* 1987: six-song demo/rehearsal tape * 1988: ''Rebellion'' (

Intense Records Intense Records was an independent record label whose releases were mostly in the metal genre. Intense was bought out in 1989 by Frontline Records and became an imprint of that company. The bands in their roster were some of the premiere Christia ...

) * 1989: ''Master's Command'' (Review: ''Cross Rhythms'') * 1990: ''Wicked Generation'' (Review: ''Cross Rhythms'', ''

CCM Magazine ''CCM Magazine'' is a twice-monthly online magazine focusing on contemporary Christian music, published by Salem Publishing, a division of Salem Communications. History ''CCM'' was first published in July 1978, as a printed magazine. It has bee ...

'') * 1991: ''Obsessions'' (Review: ''Cross Rhythms'') * 1993: ''Classics'' (

) * 2001: ''Live at Cornerstone 2001'' * 2001: ''Demo'' (

Bottomline In business and Accountancy, accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and Amortization ...

) * 2013: ''Waiting in Darkness''

Members

Current * Bruce Swift – guitars, backing vocals (1988–1994, 2000, 2008–present) * Tony Velasquez – drums (1988–1994, 2000, 2008–present) * Steve Watkins – bass, keyboards, backing vocals (1988–1994, 2000, 2008–present) * Tom Sanderson – keyboards, backing vocals (2016–present) * Erik Schelling – lead vocals (2020–present) Former * Rey Parra – lead vocals (1988–1994, 2000, 2008–2012, 2016–2019) * Eli Prinsen – lead vocals (2012–2016) * Rick Macias – keyboards (1988–1989) * Jon Johnson – guitars (1989–1990) * Joe Petit – keyboards, backing vocals (1991–1994, 2000, 2008–2016) A list of all members, past and present on Sacred Warrior's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7pX0ovqSq8 From The Metal Archives: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Sacred_Warrior/805

References

* *

External links

* {{Authority control American Christian metal musical groups Musical groups from Chicago Musical groups established in 1988