Last November, the metal world was shocked to learn that Arch Enemy was splitting with then vocalist Alissa White-Gluz seemingly out of nowhere. She’s since moved on and started work on her solo career, but Arch Enemy’s largely remained radio silent. That is, until this morning.
In an unexpected turn of events, it seems like Arch Enemy could be welcoming back a familiar face to handle vocals, as speculation suggest former frontwoman Angela Gossow could be returning to the fold. Having remained the band’s business manager, she’s been familiar with the goings on in the band. She even gave White-Gluz her approval when the lineup change happened back in 2014.
What’s caused fans online to believe Gossow would be making her return is two fold: a teaser and a coordinated effort on social media. The teaser in question features a hooded figure holding a torch and ‘2026’ showing up. The latter comes from the fact that the cryptic teaser was posted both on the band and Gossow’s official Instagram pages and they blacked out their profile pictures. We’ve seen that last move before, so it seems to suggest something’s coming from both parties.
It should absolutely be noted that neither party has offered an explanation about the changes, nor have they issued any statements saying that Gossow will in fact be the returning vocalist for Arch Enemy. This is purely speculation at this point. It just seems like the things are lining up way too well for it not to be the case.
As our friends over at Metal Injection pointed out, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that Gossow would return. In an interview back in 2018, she mentioned that she’d be interested in starting a new extreme metal project, stating that she felt she could still be a great vocalist for a band like Arch Enemy.
“Yes, I want to make a new extreme metal project, but this will happen after Arch Enemy and work with Alissa [White-Gluz] will be concluded and the whole world will sail in calmer waters. I suppose this will be in 2018, when we concluded the first series of tours and all the rest. I will do so when the time comes.”
So yeah, only time will tell if this actually happens. I wouldn’t be shocked to see this actually come to fruition, but I’d be equally unsurprised if this was all a coordinated effort to welcome in an entirely new vocalist altogether. We’ll just have to wait and see.