Alissa White-Gluz
Alissa White-Gluz is a Canadian vocalist, best known as the lead vocalist of the Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy, and former lead vocalist and founding member of the Canadian metalcore band the Agonist. Her vocal style includes both growling and clean vocals. Although primarily associated with melodic death metal and metalcore, she has appeared as a guest vocalist for power metal, symphonic metal and deathcore bands, notably Kamelot, Delain and Carnifex and has performed live with Nightwish and Tarja Turunen.
Early life
White-Gluz was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as the second of three children. Her grandparents were prisoners in concentration camps during World War II and managed to escape. Their experiences in the camps would go on to inspire the Arch Enemy song, "First Day in Hell". She is the younger sister of Jasamine White-Gluz who leads the Montreal based shoegaze band No Joy.Personal interests
White-Gluz is a fan of classical music as well as rock music. She enjoys 90s grunge music such as Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden. "I know a lot of people hate it but I love the simplicity, the stripped-down, honest songs and the mistakes. On Nirvana’s live album for example I love hearing the fuck-ups, out-of-tune guitars and the cracks in the voice," says White-Gluz in an interview with Metal Hammer.Career
The Agonist (2004–2014)
In 2004, White-Gluz formed the Agonist with fellow band members Danny Marino and Chris Kells in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She released three albums with them as their lead vocalist. White-Gluz left the Agonist in the spring of 2014 when was offered the role as vocalist for Arch Enemy.Arch Enemy (2014–present)
On 17 March 2014, Arch Enemy announced via press release that Alissa would be replacing their former vocalist Angela Gossow. With Arch Enemy, she has released two studio albums and two live albums.Solo career
White-Gluz signed a deal with Napalm Records in 2016, with an intention to release a solo album entitled Alissa. In a 2017 interview with Duke TV, she announced that her album would feature collaborations with Kamelot members, and said that the sound of the album would be "pretty different" from that of Arch Enemy.Guest vocal work
White-Gluz has recorded guest vocals for Blackguard's 2008 EP Another Round, as well as for Slaves on Dope's 2012 album Over the Influence.White-Gluz has worked with Kamelot on a number of occasions. In September and October 2012, she was a guest vocalist for Kamelot when they were the supporting act for Nightwish's North American tour. In February 2015, Kamelot announced that she would contribute guest vocals to their Haven album.
At the Denver show on 28 September 2012, White-Gluz and Elize Ryd performed the Nightwish lead vocals live on stage with minimal preparation after Anette Olzon was taken ill. White-Gluz, Ryd and Tommy Karevik later joined Nightwish on stage again to sing the final song of the tour, "Last Ride of the Day", in Orlando on 14 October 2012. Arch Enemy, with White-Gluz as lead vocalist, joined Nightwish as a supporting act on their 2015 European tour.
In February 2014, the Dutch symphonic metal band Delain announced that White-Gluz would be contributing guest vocals to their fourth studio album The Human Contradiction. White-Gluz made a second guest appearance with Delain in 2016 on "Hands of Gold", the opening track of their fifth studio album Moonbathers.
In 2017, White-Gluz recorded guest vocals for Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein's band, DOYLE. She appears on the band's second album, DOYLE II, on the track "Kiss Me As We Die", providing background vocals. White-Gluz and Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein have been in a relationship since 2014.
In 2018, White-Gluz recorded guest vocals for Angra's album Omni, which was released in February 2018. She appears on the third track "Black Widow's Web" alongside Brazilian singer Sandy. She also contributed to Dee Snider's album For The Love of Metal on the track Dead Hearts Love Thy Enemy and Kane Robert's/Alice Cooper's Beginning of the End. She provided guest vocals for Soilwork on the song "Stålfågel", which is part of their eleventh studio album Verkligheten. The album was released on 11 January 2019.
White-Gluz recorded guests vocals for the American deathcore act, Carnifex on the song "No Light Shall Save Us", which is on the band's seventh studio album, World War X, which was released on 2 August 2019 through Nuclear Blast Records.
Discography
The Agonist
- 2007 – Once Only Imagined
- 2009 – Lullabies for the Dormant Mind
- 2011 – The Escape
- 2012 – Prisoners
Arch Enemy
- 2014 – War Eternal
- 2017 – As the Stages Burn!
- 2017 – Will to Power
Solo
- TBA - Alissa
Guest appearances
- Never More Than Less – on track "So Beautiful" – Album Relentless
- Plasmarifle – on track "From The Trail of Ashes..." – Album While You Were Sleeping The World Changed in an Instant
- Blackguard – on track "The Sword" – Album Profugus Mortis
- Kamelot – on track "Sacrimony " – Album Silverthorn
- Delain – on track "The Tragedy Of The Commons" – Album The Human Contradiction
- Kamelot – on tracks "Liar Liar " and "Revolution" – Album Haven
- Metal Allegiance – guest vocals on "We Rock" – Album Metal Allegiance
- Karmaflow – as the Muse in "The Muse and the Conductor"
- Caliban – on track "The Ocean's Heart" – Album Gravity
- And Then She Came – on track "Five Billion Lies" – Album And Then She Came
- Tarja Turunen – on track "Demons in You" – Album The Shadow Self
- Delain – guest vocals on "Hands of Gold" – Album Moonbathers
- Metal Allegiance – guest vocals on "Life in the Fast Lane" – Album Fallen Heroes
- Evesdroppers – guest vocals on "God's Ocean" – Album Empty Vessel,
- American Murder Song – as Pretty Lavinia
- Aurelio Voltaire – on track "Leaves In The Stream" – Album Heart-Shaped Wound,
- Angra – on track "Black Widow's Web" – Album ØMNI
- Dee Snider – on track "Dead Hearts " – Album For the Love of Metal
- Soilwork – on track "Stålfågel" – Album Verkligheten
- Mark Morton – on track "The Truth Is Dead" – Album Anesthetic
- Carnifex – on track "No Light Shall Save Us" – Album World War X
- Kane Roberts – on track "Beginning of the End" – Album The New Normal,
- Babymetal – on track "Distortion" – Album Metal Galaxy
- Kamelot – on live album "I Am the Empire – Live from the 013"
Other media
In addition to her music career, White-Gluz also had a voice acting stint where she voiced Swarm Hunter in Gears 5.
Activism
In a 2018 interview with Metal Hammer, White-Gluz said she had been "vegan for about 18 years", but that she had engaged in animal rights activism since childhood. She received a Libby award from PETA for her work in an international campaign advocating against the hunting of Canadian seals.Personal life
White-Gluz has been in a relationship since 2014 with Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, guitarist of the American horror punk band Misfits.She was raised in a family of vegetarians, and has been a vegan since 1998. She follows a straight-edge lifestyle. She identifies as an atheist and considers herself opposed to religion, though she noted that "it doesn’t mean religious people or opposed to them".