This powerhouse performer proves babes can rock just as hard as the boys. Fiercely talented, unapologetically bold and utterly gorgeous women are taking the rock world by storm. In an industry — and genres — long dominated by men, talented female trailblazers are showing they’re forces to be reckoned with.
Alissa White-Gluz: Metal’s Artful Genius
Arch Enemy’s gorgeous growler Alissa White-Gluz, 38, elevates the Swedish band’s melodic death metal riffs with her powerful vocals. The Canadian-born artist joined the group in 2014 — but she’s long had a passion for performing.
Before Alissa took the place of outgoing frontwoman Angela Gossow — who now serves as Arch Enemy’s manager — she was the lead vocalist and founding member of the metalcore band The Agonist.
As a fan of grunge and punk, this child of the ’90s was inspired by the era’s badass female artists from group such as Hole, Garbage and No Doubt. Alissa admits her vocals have little in common with the idols from her youth, but she explains their stage presence and attitude has influenced her own style.
As Alissa soaked up the local music scene as a teen, she considered a career out of the spotlight as a stage manager or crew member. But when a band told her they needed a singer, she screwed up the courage to anonymously cover Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” and handed over her tape.
“They’re like, damn, she’s pretty good. Is she hot? And I was like she’s me. And that’s how I started singing in my first band,” she says.
But Alissa’s life took an even more interesting turn when Gossow — another idol — contacted her about picking up the mantle as Arch Enemy’s frontwoman.
“When I first started doing metal and I discovered her, I was like she’s the best. She’s amazing,” says Alissa, who calls Gossow her biggest female metal influence. “We’re kind of like twin flames.”
Alissa’s growling and clean vocals are equally impressive. However, her intricate costumes — which sometimes coordinate with her outrageous hair colors — also make her a standout in the industry.
“Metal is a very testosterone-driven music scene, and there’s this thing metalheads say: passion not fashion. So I’ve had to deal with the brunt of that a little bit just essentially for being myself,” she says.
Having previously painted theater set backdrops, Alissa is very attuned to how colors and costumes can help accentuate different characters and advance stories. Now, she puts that knowledge — and her attention to detail — to work for Arch Enemy. As for her stage looks, Alissa works to keep things “fresh and exciting” — but also ensures none of her costumes or makeup contain components derived from animals. She sketches out her ideas, creates her own concepts and also works with independent designers. She says wearing such inventive creations is “how I truly feel like myself.”
She adds, “I know if I quieted down — like maybe some people want me to — then I just wouldn’t feel right in my own skin onstage. There’s this concept called enclothed cognition, which is actually really interesting, where somebody’s performance in any given field improves if they dress the part. So for me, I feel I need to dress the part to really be myself on stage.”
Alissa is also intimately involved in every aspect of the band’s live performances.
“When people come to see an Arch Enemy show, I want them to have that full experience because we put so much passion, and thought, and time and effort into each and every one of our songs, each and every note of the guitar, each and every screech and every drum hit,” she shares.
“I want to make sure when someone comes to see the show, it’s not just like they’re hearing the CD. I want them to be experiencing something else, so I will talk with our lighting designer, our production manager, our stage manager. I’ll be like: OK, what colors are we looking at for the backdrop? What colored gels for the lights are we using on each song? It’ll be like ‘Ravenous’ has red, ‘My Apocalypse’ is green, and ‘The Eagle Flies Alone’ is blue.”
That artistry also extends to her solo clips on her Patreon site and Arch Enemy’s elaborate music videos.
“We released this video for ‘Poisoned Arrow,’ for example. That’s another single off of our album Deceivers. There’s this this shot where I appear as a blind archer. I thought that was a really interesting concept to tie into the lyrics of the song.
“Then I was like, OK in post-production, they’ve gotta give me big dragon wings because this is the opposite of Cupid here, and I want a demon flying around shooting people with arrows. We did that, and I think it looks really, really cool. I was happy to be able to express myself more and more through the music videos.”
A vegetarian since birth — and a vegan for 25 years and counting — Alissa has also become known for her animal activism and says, “I’ve always thought what’s the point of screaming if I’ve got nothing to say? So, I like to encourage people to think about their food choices.”
In addition, she continually expands her musical landscape via interesting collaborations with fellow artists — including Nita Strauss, whom she partnered with on “The Wolf You Feed.” But in recent years, the bulk of her work has been with her Arch Enemy bandmates — guitarists Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis, drummer Daniel Erlandsson and bassist Sharlee D’Angelo.
Alissa attributes the group’s appeal to the level of sophistication in their songwriting and the melody of its guitars saying, “People ask me sometimes: Why don’t you do more clean singing in Arch Enemy? I’m like, well, the guitars are doing the singing. So I’m kind of a rhythm instrument in this band. I’m delivering the words with passion and conviction, but the guitars are doing the singing. We have Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis. Every time I get on stage with them, I’m amazed I’m standing next to those two guys because they’re world-class guitarists.
“Even if you’re not into metal, you may like Arch Enemy for the musicianship — and even if you’re not into extreme metal, which is kind of what we do, we’re pretty different than most bands. So I would say, check out the music videos. Then if you like what you see, come to a show because the show is a whole new experience on top of that.”
Honestly, we’d agree with the overall melodic feeling, even within the Metal genre. You can find the band as well as Ms. White-Gluz online, of course, should research be your thing. For what is may be worth, you will likely find it worth your time to take a quick look at their YouTube channel for a quick analysis. Play even just a couple of their tracks for a couple of minutes, and you will understand the appeal.
While you will find life full of people that do not exactly sound like they look, in any ranking of such a group Alissa White-Glutz would appear high upon that list. Also noteworthy might be the fact that between when the magazine did this profile and this online publication, Alissa has split out onto her own. Interesting in addition to wildly talented, that one. You don’t see that combination very often.
