DragonForce have added former Arch Enemy vocalist Alissa White-Gluz as a full-time member. The British power metal band announced the lineup change Wednesday, with White-Gluz joining alongside longtime singer Marc Hudson rather than replacing him.
Her first shows with the band will happen this month at Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival, where DragonForce are planning sets built around the 20th anniversary of Inhuman Rampage. The band have also started recording new material with White-Gluz involved.
The move comes less than six months after White-Gluz left Arch Enemy, the melodic death metal band she fronted for more than a decade. She announced her departure in November and released the solo track The Room Where She Died the same day. In March, she introduced a separate project called Blue Medusa, featuring guitarists Alyssa Day and Dani Sophia.
DragonForce guitarist Herman Li described the lineup change as “an expansion of everything we’ve done up to this point” and confirmed the band are already working together on new music.
“Having Alissa in the room changes everything,” Li said. “She doesn’t just sing, she makes all aspects of our music better.”
The setup gives DragonForce two lead vocalists for the first time. Hudson remains in the band, which makes this feel less like a reset than a practical shift in how DragonForce write and perform. Their sound has drifted further into polished, oversized power metal over the last decade anyway, with more layered vocals and bigger hooks than the speed-focused chaos that first made them famous in the mid-2000s.
White-Gluz has crossed paths with the band before. She appeared on an alternate version of “Burning Heart” from DragonForce’s 2024 album Warp Speed Warriors. Her range fits naturally into what the group already do, especially now that their records lean as heavily on vocal arrangements as guitar solos.
The timing leaves open questions around Blue Medusa, which only released its debut single, Checkmate, in March. Early attention around that band focused heavily on the pairing of Day and Sophia, two younger guitarists who brought a sharper modern metal edge than anything connected to DragonForce.
White-Gluz also still has a solo album waiting in the background. Reports dating back several years have claimed the record is finished, with guest appearances from Jeff Loomis, Oliver Palotai, and Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein. No release date has been announced.
Earlier this year, Arch Enemy replaced White-Gluz with former Once Human vocalist Lauren Hart. Hart made her live debut with the band in Beijing in March and appeared on the recent single To The Last Breath.
DragonForce are choosing to roll this version of the band out in front of festival crowds instead of easing into it through smaller headline shows. That usually tells you how confident a band feels about a lineup change.
Photo – Travis Shinn
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