Sacred Warrior hailed from Chicago and were one of the early pioneers in Christian heavy metal. They played a brand of melodic/slightly progressive metal that showed heavy influence from Metal Church and Queensryche (vocalist Rey Parra sounds remarkably like Geoff Tate). Other band members (in their final incarnation) were Bruce Swift on guitar Steve Watkins on bass, Tony Velasquez on drums, and Joe Petit on keys. Other former members were John Johnson on guitar and Rick Macias on keys.