DRAGONFORCE Enter New Dual-Vocal Era As MARC HUDSON Steps Back Due To Tinnitus

DragonForce are changing shape again. Marc Hudson, who has fronted the band for the last fifteen years, is stepping back from recording and touring because of an ongoing issue with tinnitus, meaning he will not appear on the forthcoming album or take part in the band’s 2026 and 2027 touring plans. He is not leaving DragonForce completely, however, and will remain involved behind the scenes with the band and its management. For a musician whose career has involved years of high-volume touring and recording, protecting his hearing has to take priority, and the band’s decision to give him the space to do that rather than push through another full album-and-tour cycle is the sensible one.

Replacing Hudson on male vocals will be Alessio Garavello, a longtime friend of the band who has already filled in for Hudson in 2016 and 2023 and, more interestingly, was also his vocal coach. So the new DragonForce singer is the man who helped train the old DragonForce singer, which is one of those facts that starts off sounding completely normal and then becomes stranger the longer you stare directly at it. Garavello will not be taking over the frontman role alone either, because DragonForce’s forthcoming album is being built around a dual-vocal setup with Alissa White-Gluz, whose arrival was announced earlier this year. This means the next version of DragonForce is going to have Alessio Garavello and Alissa White-Gluz trading vocals over music written by Herman Li and Sam Totman. THAT IS TOO MANY THINGS. THAT IS TOO MANY EXTREMELY CAPABLE PEOPLE DOING EXTREMELY CAPABLE THINGS AT THE SAME TIME. SOMEBODY NEEDS TO REMOVE AT LEAST ONE GUITAR STRING BEFORE THIS BECOMES A CIVIL ENGINEERING PROBLEM.

Marc Hudson steps back to protect his hearing. DragonForce respond by evolving into something even bigger.

The interesting part is that this does not feel like DragonForce quietly replacing one component and carrying on exactly as before. The band have already confirmed that the new record will specifically use the two-singer format, which gives them an enormous amount of room to change how the songs are constructed. White-Gluz and Garavello are very different vocalists, and if DragonForce actually lean into that instead of simply having both of them sing the same giant chorus at once, there is potential for something considerably more dramatic than a standard lineup change. You suddenly have room for contrasting verses, layered hooks, call-and-response sections, clean vocals crashing into harsher textures, ridiculous theatrical arrangements and choruses large enough to require planning permission. This is DragonForce, so restraint is presumably not being considered.

Herman Li said Hudson had poured his heart into the band for fifteen years and that protecting his hearing was not something they would ever ask him to compromise on, adding that they would rather have him healthy and involved long-term than force him through another cycle and risk making the problem worse. Sam Totman described Garavello as the obvious replacement, pointing to his history with Hudson and the fact that he already understands the songs from the inside. That history matters, because DragonForce material is relentlessly high, fast and physically demanding, and dropping somebody unfamiliar into that environment would be a substantial undertaking even before you get to the small matter of standing in front of one of the most hyperactive instrumental lineups in modern power metal.

The first new material from this version of the band is due to arrive next week, which should answer the most important question very quickly: what the hell does dual-vocal DragonForce actually sound like? Because on paper this lineup is insane. Not funny insane. Not “haha they play fast” insane. Genuinely structurally insane. You have one of the most technically extreme mainstream power-metal bands of the last twenty years, one of metal’s most recognisable modern vocalists, a singer with direct history inside the DragonForce system, and a rhythm section presumably being instructed to behave normally while absolutely nobody else does. THE SONG HAS NOT EVEN COME OUT YET AND I CAN ALREADY HEAR A KEY CHANGE HAPPENING SOMEWHERE IN THE DISTANCE. IT IS GETTING CLOSER.

Hudson stepping away is obviously unfortunate, particularly after such a long period with the band, but the circumstances around it make this feel less like an ending than a violent rerouting of DragonForce into another configuration. He remains involved, Garavello moves forward, White-Gluz is already in place, and the next album is apparently being designed around the change rather than attempting to disguise it. For a band that has spent its entire existence pushing everything toward maximum speed, maximum melody and maximum excess, this may be one of the few lineup changes that actually gives them permission to become even larger.

DragonForce’s North American tour is still scheduled to begin in November with Ensiferum and Rhapsody Of Fire supporting, meaning this new version of the band will very quickly have to survive actual stages rather than press releases and rehearsal rooms. The scale of the change is considerable, but so is the amount of experience involved: Garavello already knows the material and the people around it, White-Gluz brings an entirely different vocal weapon into the arrangement, and Hudson remains connected to the band while prioritising his hearing.

Marc Hudson is stepping away from the stage. Alessio Garavello is stepping in. Alissa White-Gluz is already there. New music arrives next week. This is either going to be enormous or completely fucking deranged. Probably both.