Reynold 'Butch' Carlson (ex-Jag Panzer). Barlam was let go in favor of Carlson's Driver bandmate, Roy Z, who collaborated with McCarty on several new songs which soon sparked the idea of a Warrior reunion. In 1991, Floyd and McCarty had put together a new Warrior lineup featuring Roy Z on guitar, bassist Kelly Pattrik, and drummer Dave Imondi. The band played several shows before Imondi was replaced by Jorge Miguel Palacios. In 1992, the band cut a three-song demo at Joe Floyd's Silver Cloud studio consisting of "Fight/ Or Fall", "White Mansions", and the Bruce Turgon-penned "New Nation", produced by Warren DeMartini of Ratt. The band came to the attention of the German-based indie label Dream Circle, who had previously signed Roy Z's Latin hard rock band, Tribe of Gypsies. A deal was struck but progress on the album was slow and eventually halted, when Z left the fold to concentrate on his own group and work with former Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson. Most of his guitar tracks were erased and eventually re-cut by new arrival Mick Perez. The album, titled Ancient Future, was released in 1998 with Dream Circle handling Europe, Metal Blade taking care of North America, and Teichiku releasing the album in Japan where it included a bonus track ("All I Need"). Warrior were also invited to play Germany's Wacken Open Air festival with a lineup that now featured McCarty, Floyd, Perez, bassist Sam, and drummer Dave DuCey. In 2001, Warrior returned with The Code of Life on Reality Entertainment/Nuclear Blast, the band's first album not to feature Parramore McCarty on vocals who had declined to take part in the recording. His replacement was Rob Rock. Rock and Floyd were joined by guitarist Mick Perez, bassist Simon Oliver, and drummer Dave DuCey. The album featured a number of notable writing contributions: Roy Z co-wrote the album opener "Day of Reckoning" while Bruce Dickinson is credited on "We Are One." Dickinson's The Chemical Wedding touring guitarist, Richard Carrette, co-authored and played lead guitar on "The Endless Beginning." Even though the album earned some of the best reviews in the band's career, The Code of Life was not supported with any gigs or touring. With Rob Rock away on his fledgling solo career, Warrior was once again in need of a vocalist for their next album. At the suggestion of the band's co-producer, Warren Croyle, Marc Storace was