Tag: Sacred Warrior

This is the third album from Sacred Warrior and perhaps their strangest. Not strange in musical style as it’s pretty well your standard late 80’s metal album but instead it’s the structure and message of the album that’s different. The songs follow a story of child abuse from the eyes of the abused. The tracks are structured to tell a story of abuse until both the abused and the abuser come to God in the end. I’ll give them and their label, Intense Records, credit. This is a touchy issue today never mind in 1990 so it was a pretty gutsy idea. That said the album should be listened to in the proper order of the tracks. The band obviously worked on this whole concept very hard but I feel they may not have worked as hard on the music. There isn’t really a standout track and they all kind of meld together. Then again that might be a good thing as it causes you to concentrate a little harder on the message.

Tracklist
1 – No Happy Endings – 5:09
2 – Little Secrets – 6:18
3 – Standing Free – 5:00
4 – Are You Ready – 3:05
5 – Minister By Night – 3:35
6 – Miss Linda – 4:51
7 – In The Night – 5:58
8 – Warriors – 3:13
9 – Wicked Generation – 4:44
10 – War Torn Hero – 4:57

Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Bass – Steve Watkins
Drums – Tony Velazquez
Engineer [ADD] – Steve Weeder
Engineer, Mixed By – Harry Witz
Guitar – Bruce Swift
Keyboards – Rick Macias
Layout – Joe Potter
Photography By – Basement Art Inc.
Producer – Jim Homan
Vocals – Ray Parra
Vocals [Additional] – Alysha Villareal, Bruce Swift, Jim Homan, Kristi Pollock, Rey Parra, Steve Watkins, Steve Weeder
Written-By – Bruce Swift, Rey Parra, Rick Macias, Steve Watkins, Tony Velasquez

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Intense Records (10)
Copyright © – Intense Records (10)
Distributed By – The Benson Company
Recorded At – River North Studios
Published By – Broken Songs
Glass Mastered at – Nimbus, Virginia

This was the second album from Sacred Warrior and the same line up gave us another album much like their first one. The band decided to produce this one themselves and did a pretty good job. I can hear a few spots where I think they could have done better but over all they did a good job. The album takes up where the last one left off and if you liked the first one you’ll like this one. Vocals from Rey Parra are excellent and Bruce Swift’s guitar screams. If I did have to pick out an improvement after the first album I would say it’s the drumming. I don’t know if Tony Velasquez’s drumming improved or if it was a result of the self production but the drumming is excellent where on their first album it was just good.

Tracklist
1 – Master’s Command – 4:53
2 – Beyond The Mountain – 4:25
3 – Evil Lurks – 4:26
4 – Bound In Chains – 3:45
5 – Unfailing Love – 5:31
6 – Paradise – 5:21
7 – Uncontrolled – 3:47
8 – Many Will Come – 3:53
9 – Onward Warriors – 3:13
10 – The Flood – 4:15
11 – Holy, Holy, Holy – 4:27

Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Bass – Steve Watkins
Drums – Tony Velasquez
Engineer – Dave Jahnsen
Guitar – Bruce Swift
Illustration – John Dickenson
Keyboards – Rick Macias
Photography By – Michael Seeley
Producer – Dave Jahnsen, Sacred Warrior
Vocals – Rey Parra
Written-By [All Songs By] – Bruce Swift, Rey Parra, Rick Macias, Steve Watkins (2), Tony Velasquez

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Intense Records (10)
Copyright (c) – Intense Records (10)
Distributed By – The Benson Company
Recorded At – Mixing Lab A
Recorded At – Mixing Lab B
Published By – Broken Songs
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia

Sacred Warrior rose from a band called Nomad that formed in 1985. Guitarist Bruce Swift found Christ and led the other members, Parra and Velasquez, to Christ. They recruited Watkins to play bass at Bible Study and with a quick name change Sacred Warrior was born. The band signed with Intense Records and this was their debut album. The LP had a very limited run and is a collectors item today. Their support tour for the album was as a warm up band for Rez. Pretty good gig for a new band. The album is an excellent representation of Metal. It doesn’t have much of a commercial sound but is very well engineered and produced. All in all a great Metal album with good edge.

Tracklist
1 – Black Metal – 4:40
2 – Mad, Mad World – 4:16
3 – Stay Away From Evil – 2:47
4 – He Died – 3:55
5 – Children of the Light – 2:39
6 – Rebellion – 4:30
7 – Day of the Lord – 3:37
8 – The Heaven’s are Calling – 4:33
9 – Famine – 5:12
10 – Master of Lies – 3:14
11 – Sword of Victory – 3:31

Credits
Art Direction – Atticus Farlow, Farlow Lark
Bass – Steve Watkins
Drums – Tony Velazquez
Engineer – Al Pangelinan, Jason Brown, Randy Burns
Executive-Producer – Jesus Christ
Guitar [Guitars] – Bruce Swift
Keyboards [Keys] – Rick Macias
Mixed By – Ron Goudie
Photography By – Ruby Michael
Producer – Caesar Kalinowski
Vocals – Rey Parra

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Big Rage! Productions
Copyright (c) – Big Rage! Productions
Distributed By – Sparrow/Star Song Distribution
Recorded At – Opus Recording Studio
Recorded At – Sutton Place Recording Studio