Arch Enemy’s Alissa White Gluz: ‘If There’s an Opportunity to Use Clean Vocals We’ll Probably Do It’

Swedish melodic death metal outfit Arch Enemy have been at the forefront of the genre for two decades, expanding their sound, but never straying too far from their roots. When iconic frontwoman Angela Gossow stepped away from the band, the Agonist's dual-threat singer Alissa White-Gluz was selected to step into the role. Fans wondered if she would be bringing her clean singing abilities to Arch Enemy and she has opened up on the possibility.

While Arch Enemy are a death metal band at heart, they have steadily incorporated more anthemic aspects in their music over their last few releases, which would play into clean sung parts well. White-Gluz spoke with Carl Begai about the likelihood of implementing the other side of her vocal talents, saying, “Every time the idea of clean singing in Arch Enemy comes up Angela [Gossow, manager], Michael [Amott, guitars] and everyone loves the idea. I love doing clean singing, which is one of the main things that drives me back to Kamelot all the time."

Expanding on the notion, she added, "It’s fun for me, and I love singing Arch Enemy stuff without clean singing but I think it would be cool to introduce it. It’s just a matter of if it feels right. I think we’re all waiting for the time when we get that feeling because none of us are against it, but we’re against forcing it into the music for the sake of ‘Look what I can do…’"

The frontwoman then noted the diverse talents of her bandmates, stating, "Daniel [Erlandsson, drums] plays guitar really well and plays different styles of drumming, Jeff [Loomis, guitars] sings really well, so we all have many talents but we don’t have to use all of them in every song all the time. That being said, if there’s an opportunity to use clean vocals we’ll probably do it.”

While White-Gluz is looking to the future, other members of Arch Enemy are dialing up their past. Current members Michael Amott, Sharell D'Angelo and Daniel Erlandsson have teamed up with original members singer Johan Liiva and guitarist Christopher Amott. The group will be performing under Black Earth, the title of their 1996 debut record. Performances in Japan have been booked as Black Earth prepare to break out some old classics off their first three records with Liiva.

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