Argentum — We Are The Fire
Yet power electronics has not yet really managed to go beyond the subversiveness. Since Whitehouse and Broken Flag, there seems to have been no real, structural change – such conservatism, I guess, is inherent to the genre – and radical politics, misogyny, Xeroxed artwork, and angry white men in wife beaters still comprise the bulk of the genre’s characteristics. What little variation that power electronics has seen in recent years have mainly been unexpected political leanings (far left and even straight-edge PE) and increasingly professional production values, evident in artwork and the like. In most other ways, PE is still almost exactly what it was thirty years ago.
Argentum, in most ways, seem a typical PE outfit. Musically, it’s all merciless electronics and aggressive vocals; the members themselves dress, oh stereotypes, in wife beaters and ski masks. The symbolism is all traditional PE – their logo seems borrowed from any extremist political movement, and the artwork and titles (lyrics, perhaps, too, but I can’t make out much of what’s being shouted, to be honest) are riddled with all the usual themes; there’s flames, and guns, and nihilism and revolution. Their major distinctive characteristic seems that they’re South American, rather than the usual European or American, but, in all honesty, this doesn’t seem reflected in the musical output very much.
The majority of tracks are constructed in much the same way; drones and rattling electronics, here and there interspersed with clattering, bangs and shrieks, with ferocious shouts and grunts laid on top. The ingredients are familiar, and the dish Argentum serve I feel like I’ve tasted often before as well. The eleven tracks (ten originals and one cover) are coherent to a point where they’re completely interchangeable, and while such musical constancy, on the one hand, is quite the achievement, it also means that We Are The Fire, clocking in at over 67 minutes, is too big a serving for me to finish and not feel too full over.
In many ways, We Are The Fire is perfectly enjoyable. It’s a very decent album, and seems a perfect record for any PE nut: to my ears, it’s a bit generic, and it sounds a bit too much like any other average, not particularly outstanding PE album, but then again, my knowledge of and love for PE spreads not too far beyond things like Broken Flag compilations and Filth & Violence tapes. As such, I’m confident to say that, for anyone deeply into PE, We Are The Fire can be highly recommended. Whatever your stance towards the genre is, this album certainly manages to transport you to a dark and filthy place; the only question is whether you have any wish to be there.
Ultimately, We Are The Fire stands as a call to arms – “Choose your side, wolf or lamb”, the vocalist proclaims on Wolf Or Lamb – but Argentum don’t make it particularly clear what they’re fighting for. Perhaps, in that ambiguity, lies a certain attraction – a call to perpetual revolution, despite political affiliation; a realisation of the urgency of change, improvement, a better tomorrow. Yet in the slightly too generic music no real revolutionary thought is evident, and that is something of a shame.