ALISSA WHITE-GLUZ On Her Collaboration With DRAGONFORCE: 'We Were Surprised That Nobody Knew' About It Before It Was Announced

In a new interview with Benedetta Baldin of Finland's Chaoszine, former ARCH ENEMY singer Alissa White-Gluz spoke about her recently announced collaboration with extreme power metallers DRAGONFORCE. After Baldin noted that a lot of people didn't see her collaboration coming before it was announced in early May, Alissa said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I was surprised that people were surprised, actually, 'cause we thought that people knew. That's why we made this video and we were, like, 'Hey, the rumors are true,' because we thought that people thought this was happening already. We were walking around together. I mean, people took photos of us together for months already. We were surprised that nobody knew. [Laughs]"

She continued: "It's great, because DRAGONFORCE is a band that really, really cares about delivering an excellent-quality piece of entertainment every single night, to the point that Sam [Totman, DRAGONFORCE guitarist] is building the set for the stage, and Herman [Li, DRAGONFORCE guitarist] is taking care of all the ins and outs of the tech. And they're not just strolling onstage, throwing a little bit of playing out there and getting offstage. Everybody's, like, super involved. And I've always been like that too, because I come from working in theater. I worked in theater for many years, where I was the stage manager and set designer, and I loved that. And so to be around people who really care — they care that the lighting looks good, they care that the props are in place, they care that the audience has a great time — I am super, super detail-oriented like that also, and it's really cool to be around other people who are like that. And so in terms of matching the energy, it's actually a very good fit. And also DRAGONFORCE is super heavy in a different way. They're heavy because they're so fast. [Laughs] It is a workout for every single musician on stage. The drummer, the vocalist, the bassist, the guitarist, everybody's, like, 'Ah,' the whole time. [Laughs] We get on stage and I'm, like, 'Take one breath before I get on stage, 'cause I'm not gonna be able to breathe again until 45 minutes from now.' It's hard. It's challenging. So it's really cool to be expressing that kind of really intense energy, but in a different way."

Asked what it has been like to shift gears and pour her soul into a fresh project like her newly formed band BLUE MEDUSA after fronting ARCH ENEMY for a decade, Alissa said: "Yeah, it feels great. And I'm still gonna be fronting one of the biggest bands in metal, as you just said. I'll be in DRAGONFORCE for all these tours. So in that regard, nothing much has changed, actually. But it's great to be able to have the time to invest in... I mean, I never have enough time, but I have more time now that I can actually invest into BLUE MEDUSA fully, because it's my main focus and project. And I love the music that we're making, and it's very inspiring to make music that you love and that you're super, super proud of without compromise. So it feels great."

Last month, Alissa was asked by Local Band Smokeout if her 2025 collaboration with extreme power metallers DRAGONFORCE on an alternate version of their track "Burning Heart" was what ultimately led to her joining the latter band. She responded: "Kind of. I think we all kind of agreed that we got a really good vibe from working together, and that the music could be really cool to combine everything that DRAGONFORCE is known for and what I'm known for, and play on our strengths. And I think we just weren't sure if we could really do it. And I think in life you're never really ready to do something; you just have to do it and then figure it out. And so we were, like, 'You know what? It's now or never. Let's just do it. Let's just jump into this and make it happen.' And so we did. And so we've been working, yeah, for a while, actually, just to get prepared to be able to perform these shows together, and also working on new music."

Regarding what the experience has been like of working on new music with DRAGONFORCE, Alissa said: "[It's been] really good. You never know... 'Cause you can practice your stuff on your own and write independently and it could be fine, but when we actually started playing together in the same room, playing properly, rehearsing, writing, working on lyrics, working on chord structures, parts, arrangements, concepts, titles and stuff like that, we worked on stuff and then we listened back and we were, like, 'This sounds really good.' I think we were... We were pretty confident, but then listening back to it, we were, like, 'Ooh, okay. We're really on to something here.' So it was great."

Alissa also talked about DRAGONFORCE's recently announced tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band's monumental album "Inhuman Rampage" — the record that birthed the platinum-selling global phenomenon of "Through The Fire And Flames" and spent 23 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200. Asked if there is a particular song from that LP that she is looking forward to performing, Alissa said: "Obviously I'm looking forward to all of it. Obviously I'm looking forward to 'Through The Fire And Flames', 'cause the room just ignites when you start that song. But interestingly, in the set that we just did for the past two shows, we included 'Storming The Burning Fields', and that one is super fun to sing. Something about that song is very satisfying to sing. So I'm glad that we started incorporating that one. And I didn't really realize that that would be a favorite. 'Fury Of The Storm' [from 2004's 'Sonic Firestorm'] is also really fun to sing. I think that there's gonna be some favorites that pop up as we go through the tour, and it's kind of hard to predict which ones they would be right now, 'cause there's so many factors that lean into that. I like to perform songs that are challenging, but also satisfying, but also that the audience likes. So it's like a fine balance. 'Cause sometimes if a song is too easy, it becomes a little boring to perform night after night, and if a song is too hard, you can't enjoy it because you're just, like, freaking out the whole time. And also, usually if it's a super-complex song, the audience might not totally grasp it, 'cause it's a live performance, a live environment where things sound crazy. So I think there's that fine balance. And I have a feeling 'Storming The Burning Fields' will probably be in the top."

DRAGONFORCE's largest North American tour in more than two decades will bring the world's fastest band to 22 cities this November and December, with support from ENSIFERUM and RHAPSODY OF FIRE. Beginning at San Diego's Observatory on Friday, November 13, dates will stretch from New York City's Palladium Times Square to Chicago's Riviera Theatre, Los Angeles's Wiltern and beyond, further marking 2026 as the start of DRAGONFORCE's biggest, boldest and most electrifying era yet.

DRAGONFORCE previewed the forthcoming tour with two festival performances at Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple, which were "riotously received" (Metal Hammer) and "epic" (Metal Injection).

White-Gluz is joined in BLUE MEDUSA by guitarists Alyssa Day (MINDSCAR, ABSENTIA) and Dani Sophia (ex-Till Lindemann). Bassist Alicia Vigil (DRAGONFORCE, VIGIL OF WAR) and drummer Delaney Jaster (STITCHED UP HEART) will also take part in BLUE MEDUSA's live shows.

Photo by Travis Shinn