When Applehead surfaced, sole member Greg Minier had already cut his teeth as axe-slinger in highly respected crossover thrash outfit The Crucified, and put out a one-off EP (as a solo project) of more straight-forward thrash under the simply-named Minier. Just as The Crucified was ending, the guitarist changed directions considerably and recorded a full-length album of grunge/alternative metal under the band name Applehead. In fact, the project’s debut album Meaning was one of the most authentic attempts at grunge in the Christian market.
The album hit hard not only musically but lyrically as well, tackling subjects like alcohol abuse, struggles with sin, devotional inconsistency, and as the album title suggested, the search for meaning in life found via hope in the Creator. Running through the album is an introspective vein that weaves its way through most of the tracks. The biggest example of this are the moody tracks like “Thoughts,” “Intermittent You,” and the title track, featured here. The song is slower and carries an emotional weight that wouldn’t be out of place among Seattle’s finest.
The album originally released in 1992 on Ocean Records, but a re-mastered version was issued in 2022 through Roxx Records. Then Greg and co. surprised us all by re-forming the band and recording a new album in 2023, also through Roxx. The project shifted stylistically into more traditional hard rock and heavy metal sounds.