DragonForce have kicked off a new era by announcing that Alissa White-Gluz has joined the band as co-lead vocalist alongside Marc Hudson. The reveal was made on May 6, 2026, and the timing gives the announcement extra weight: White-Gluz is set to make her first live appearance with the band this weekend at Welcome to Rockville in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before the group continues the rollout at Sonic Temple on May 17. Both shows are being framed as part of DragonForce’s 20th anniversary celebration of Inhuman Rampage.
The band is treating this as more than a simple personnel change. In DragonForce’s own statement, co-founder and guitarist Herman Li said White-Gluz’s addition is “an expansion” of everything they have done so far, and he stressed that the band wants to honor what Inhuman Rampage meant while moving forward into the next chapter. He also said she changes “everything” in the room and praised her live power, making it clear that this is being presented as a creative upgrade, not just a replacement or guest spot.
White-Gluz gave a similarly enthusiastic response. She said she is excited to bring DragonForce’s music to life with the band’s “amazingly skilled musicians,” and she described the material as technically demanding, energizing, and rewarding because it lets her use the full range of her voice. Her statement makes the new role sound like a real artistic challenge rather than a routine gig, which fits a singer known for moving between melody, aggression, and theatrical delivery.
The announcement also points toward new music. DragonForce said the band is already working on its 10th studio album with White-Gluz involved, and the group’s live schedule is expected to expand beyond the two festival dates currently listed. That makes this feel like a full-scale reset, not just a one-off touring experiment.
For fans wondering how this pairing will sound, there is already a preview in the archive. White-Gluz collaborated with DragonForce on “Burning Heart” in June 2025, and both DragonForce and White-Gluz spoke highly of that session. On the band’s official site, she said singing the song was fun and challenging because DragonForce “knows no speed limits,” while Li said she had been one of his favorite metal vocalists for years and that her performance lifted the song to another level.
White-Gluz’s move to DragonForce comes after a busy stretch in her own career. She spent more than a decade in Arch Enemy, left the band in 2025, and soon afterward launched a solo era that includes her debut solo single and her new project Blue Medusa. Loudwire also notes that she teased the DragonForce move with an Instagram clip singing part of “Through The Fire And Flames,” which gave fans an early hint that something big was coming.
DragonForce, formed in 1999, have spent years turning speed metal into a spectacle built for both guitar fanatics and mainstream rock audiences. Their best-known anthem, “Through The Fire And Flames,” helped define the Inhuman Rampage era, and the band is now using that anniversary as the launchpad for a new phase with White-Gluz in the lineup. With the first live dates only days away and a new album already underway, DragonForce are clearly not treating this as a side story—they are treating it as the start of the next chapter.
