Greg Minier, the famed guitarist of The Crucified (and later of grunge/alternative/metal project Applehead) released a solo EP of straightforward thrash metal (the yin to The Crucified’s crossover yang), under his last name. The mini-album contained 7 songs and featured Greg playing all the instruments as well as handling the vocal duties. I remember talking with several metalheads at the time and we all agreed it was unfair for the Lord to bless some individuals with so much talent, while others of us got so little! I’m mostly joking, of course ( . . . mostly!) Instead, I’m grateful to be able to enjoy and celebrate the talents of others.
In addition to the straightforward music, the eponymous release also featured straightforward lyrics tackling topics like deception, skepticism, spousal abuse, and abortion amongst others. One of the strongest tracks on the release was “Philosophy of Man” which tackled contemporary justifications for abandoning a living faith:
Philosophize! There is no wrong.
Philosophize! All is well.
Philosophize! There is no God.
Philosophize! There is no hell!
Minier tackles the philosophy with his own view: “Jesus Christ loves you and you don’t even care!”
The album originally dropped via R.E.X. Music in 1990, but was re-issued and remastered in 2017 (with bonus tracks) for Retroactive Records, and was just re-issued last week via ROXX Records, this time a re-recorded version on which you can actually hear the bass, and also re-mastered by Rob Colwell. This version also saw the album pressed to vinyl for the first time!