Over the last decade or so, industrial-influenced music has once again started to become en vogue. Groups as diverse as Night Club and Uniform are rising up the ranks in indie music circles while longtime champions of the genre like Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and John Fryer continue to release great music decades into their respective careers. While John D. Norten isn’t as much of a household name as those industrial icons, he’s been releasing his own music as Blue Eyed Christ and producing for other artists for nearly 30 years. Today we’re excited to premiere the video for his new single “Massive React.”
Like much of Blue Eyed Christ’s discography, “Massive React” expertly blends classic EBM and industrial sounds with a pop sheen. Norten has worked with pop icons like Lady Gaga and Prince so he knows a thing or two about writing an unforgetable melodic hook. Over a pulsating, relentless beat Norten chants out the song’s lyrics with a sinister delivery, giving the song a dark, dystopian nature that’s well-captured in the visuals. The video was directed by Jim Marcus, who has worked with Blue Eyed Christ for decades.
“‘Massive React’ mixes a slick synth groove with processed guitars while tackling the effects that corporate greed, technology, and personal responsibility play within the world,” said Norten. “It was great having Jim Marcus (Go Fight, Die Warzau) on board to direct the video since we have a musical history reaching back to the ’90s.”
Blue Eyed Christ has always taken time between albums, with the project’s debut release coming in 1991 with the iconic Leaders + Followers. It was four years later that the sophomore album Crash was released, and then seven years before a third record American Whore was released in 2002. 12 years later saw the release of A Rush and a Thrill, the fourth album from Blue Eyed Christ. Luckily fans of the legendary electronic rock group won’t have to wait quite as long for the fifth album, the appropriately-titled World on Fire. The new album features appearances from En Esch of KMFDM fame as well as Mea Fisher of Lords of Acid.
“World on Fire is a loosely based concept album about the state of the world that combines the energy and political anthems of my first album mixed with the personal themes I’m also known for,” said Norten. “It’s the combustion of everything I’ve done on the first 4 albums. When I started writing it, I really didn’t realize how prophetic it would become as things continue to unravel and become more polarized and extreme; I thought I was writing an album about the dystopian world we live in, but then realized I was also writing a deeply personal album about the collective human experience. It’s about trying to make sense of everything being thrown at you and finding out where you fit in.”
Leave a Comment