We Spoke With David Aguirre, Who Told Us About The Band's Updates | Arje Is Back In Full Force With A New Album

Hailing from the beautiful province of Jujuy, Argentina, Arje has quite a history. Founded around 2004, the band led by David Aguirre went on to record a demo and release their debut album, “Buscando Horizontes,” in 2005, which earned them a solid reputation in the metal scene.
The band has always focused on melodic Power Metal, with anthem-like songs that stood out at the time for the inspiration, speed, and grandeur of their compositions. However, over time, the band went on hiatus—until now.
David Aguirre got to work, and Arje is active once again—though, as he told us, the band never completely stopped playing, since for the past few years they’ve performed the occasional live show in northern Argentina.
But it is Arje’s frontman himself who tells us a bit about the band’s history, the steps they took, and everything we missed between the release of “Buscando Horizontes” and the present. “In 2004, we were able to release a demo, which was our first chance to showcase what we’d been recording and working on”, he told us. “In 2005, we were given the chance to record an album independently. Given the opportunities we had—since we’re from Jujuy, far from recording studios, and also due to financial constraints—we didn’t have all the resources at our disposal. We managed to set up a sort of ‘home studio,’ you could say, and I was able to record the first album that opened doors for us. For example, we were able to plan a tour through Bolivia, visit some places in northern Argentina, and make it all the way to Córdoba. Around that time, I went through a period when I started a family. I had the dream of being able to support myself through music, but well, eventually you get a reality check. That led me to branch out into other musical projects to see if I could have another source of income without giving up music entirely. After my daughter was born, I had to switch fields, because I had a small recording studio and worked on some productions, but financially, it didn’t go very well for me.”
But as Arje’s guitarist and vocalist told us, those weren’t the only reasons for the band’s hiatus. “After that, a lot of things happened that caused the band to come to a bit of a standstill”, he told us. “Some things happened that really affected me emotionally because, at the time, I was attending church and had the opportunity to study music and socio-cultural music promotion, and as part of that, I also took music courses. I’d always liked composing, and I was given the chance to study and dedicate a little more of my life to it. At that time, I also suffered a setback because the church I attended didn’t understand that ‘rock’ music was part of some Christians’ identity—in other words, they had kicked me out of the church. That really took a toll on me emotionally, and I stopped doing things. Basically, I turned my back on music a bit and prioritized other things to get my life back on track so I could support myself financially. We’d received invitations to play at various venues, but since the guys in the band had their day jobs, it didn’t work out, and it seemed like the project was coming to an end—and that was it. Basically, those were the reasons why Arje was on hiatus as a band.”
Continuing the story, David also told us how Arje finally came back to life. “Sometimes when you’re young, you dream about things related to what you do—reaching different places, and so on. Years later, we’d posted some songs on social media, and they caught the attention of some brothers from Chile and Mexico who had started a production company. They got in touch with me and asked for permission to re-release Arje’s album and distribute it in several countries—which was the project I’d had when I was young, about fifteen years ago. Things started happening that, to be honest, really began to lift me up and pull me out of—I don’t know if I’d call it depression, but certainly that place where you might stop dreaming—and it was the culmination of everything I’d planned when I was young. The thing is, doors started opening for me, and I started receiving invitations. We started to be surprised because people were sending us photos of where they’d bought our album, and telling us what they thought of it—how God was using that album and the songs. People felt blessed through our songs. All of that began to rekindle that youthful dream, and that flame that had gone out was reignited.”
And to all of that, David adds, “At one point, the Arje album was re-released and remastered, and a spark was ignited. What might have seemed like a finished project began to take on a new purpose, so to speak. Especially because I’m the one who wrote the songs, recorded them, did the arrangements, and so on—and that’s why the project depended so much on me to keep it going. God began to reignite that spark after I started writing songs again—and I’m talking about almost two or three years ago now, after the remastering process—all of which really lifted my spirits, made me dream again, feel that youthful energy, and gave me the drive to start from scratch”, he told us.
And that flame, now reignited, puts Arje back in the spotlight, with new projects, new ideas, and a future album on the horizon—about which David shared some details with us: “I already have several songs written and some already recorded, but I want the second album to be very different from the first. At one point, I thought, ‘I’ll never be able to top the first one,’ and sometimes that’s a limit you set for yourself—starting with the compositions, thinking about what kind of stamp I could put on it, the musical direction, something that makes people feel there’s a difference between the first and second albums, and so on”; and elaborating on this, he told us, “While we have our own unique style—and that’s something people in other countries really appreciate—we even won a poll on a very famous Power Metal website with our first album. Actually, when it was mastered, we were really surprised by that, and it helps us a lot when it comes to considering what impression people have—not just within the Christian community, but within the metal scene in general—of the band and our songs. That’s why, during all this time, I’ve been reflecting, listening to music, and analyzing my spiritual stance and my musical growth—because even though I had stopped playing with the band, I started listening to a lot of music.”
Initially, and from what it seems, the project for Arje’s new album is much more ambitious and is planned to be something different from what we heard on “Buscando Horizontes,” and in fact, the band’s leader assured us of the following: “I also began to see the possibility that the Northern music from here in Jujuy, from the Altiplano, and from Bolivia, could add another flavor, and I imagined a blend of our identity that could also be combined with the Power Metal element. That takes time to analyze and is quite challenging, but I can already tell you that there are songs that were composed in a single day”, he told us. Sharing his thoughts on the new material, David Aguirre added, “…There are songs that I believe will be a great blessing. I’m going through a phase that you could say is my best—a time of inspiration where I feel that through my songs I can reach God’s heart, and that really motivates me because, in reality, I’ve always made music, but I’ve come to understand that God gave me this talent. That’s why I never wanted to stop making music for God, and I don’t feel any other inspiration, even though I had the opportunity to start another project with a message that wasn’t directly Christian, so to speak. Sometimes there comes a moment when you want to take the reins, when you want to include positive lyrics in certain projects, and that’s just fooling yourself. I realized that if I’m going to write songs, they have to be songs for God—reflecting what my heart feels, in gratitude for what God always gives us. Today I feel like I’m at a point where I can express everything that’s in my heart. I sit at my computer at home to compose, and songs are coming out that are tugging at my heartstrings all over again. I feel that every song that comes out—that I’m recording—fills my heart, and I’m eager to share it with others as well.”
But that’s not all. The guitarist’s imagination and creativity seem to know no bounds, and in addition to what he’d already been telling us about the new album, he also shared some of his ideas with us, as well as details about the recording and composition process for the material that will soon be released. “I have several new songs”, he reiterates. “I’ve always had the idea of blending my music with classical music, having an orchestra in the background, but it was always a distant dream because in Jujuy—since there are no studios, no philharmonic, and no orchestra to support such a project, nor the financial resources to hire them and bring the arrangements to life—it seemed like an impossible dream. That was also something that always held me back, because sometimes you think about the composition, how the album might sound, and also how we might sound live, and that limits the way you compose. But there comes a point when you also need to express what’s in your heart and translate it into music. Now, with all the technological advances, what might not have been possible before is now possible when you have a solid musical foundation and use those famous virtual instruments, along with AI—which also allows musicians who are poor or have limited resources to bring a musical project to life. All of this, let’s just say, blew my mind. There are songs that can now sound the way I would have wanted them to back then—with orchestral arrangements or by mixing brass instruments or indigenous instruments from northern Argentina, like the kena and samponia, blending them with string arrangements and adding some backing vocals. All of this to bring to life what’s in your head. With all of this, when people hear the new album… and I don’t know if we’ll be able to play it live, but we’re figuring out how. The idea behind this second album is, more than anything, to go out and play it and promote it. We’ve had invitations, but sometimes due to time constraints or work commitments, it’s been difficult. I’m an entrepreneur, and I’m organizing myself to see if I can manage my time better. If the opportunity arises to play again, I’ll realign my activities toward that goal—and at 47, I hope to achieve some of the goals I had as a young man: to go out and play at the venues where we’ve been invited, perhaps with session musicians, but to be able to share what we have through our musical vision and also promote the new album, which is coming out very soon. There have been some changes in Arjé’s lineup, and we’re looking into the possibility of putting something together so we can go out and play.”
The current lineup consists of David Aguirre himself on guitar and vocals, Alejandro Gomez on bass, and David Garcia on drums, with Daniel Ugarte and Naidy Mendoza—Aguirre’s wife—on backing vocals. “Everything is still in the works. We’re focused on the second album”, David told us.
In fact, we got to hear a sneak peek of what Arje’s second album will sound like—more specifically, an unfinished demo of the song “Abba Padre,” which David Aguirre kindly played for us. That song, in particular, really showcases the much more symphonic and melodic side David was talking about, while still maintaining the Power Metal style we’ve come to expect from Arje, incorporating sounds typical of northern Argentina, which gives it a very distinctive sound. We can look forward to a great album—powerful and with the intensity we’ve come to expect from Arje.
And while we wait for Arje’s upcoming album, here’s one of their timeless classics, the track “Por Toda La Eternidad,” in its remastered version from the album “Buscando Horizontes,” and of course, the band’s social media accounts so you can follow them and stay up to date on their latest news…