TRACK REVIEW: Checkmate by Blue Medusa (Alissa White-Gluz)
The absolute vocal powerhouse that is Alissa White-Gluz is back with her new project Blue Medusa after leaving Arch Enemy in November 2025. Alongside Absentia’s Alyssa Day and Fishman endorsed artist Dani Sophia they released their debut track “Checkmate”.
When the project was announced it was labeled as “A project where my full artistic vision can exist without limits” by White-Gluz, and just the intro to this debut track alone reflects upon that. There is no easing into this track at all as it starts with a mind blowing shredding riff that immediately sets the tone for the next four minutes. The rest of the band kicks in with a moshpit-inducing heavy melodic death metal sound of driving double kick and a thunderous scream and drops into that groove that makes you headbang without even realising.
The verses have that driving “four on the floor” pulse that pleases every metalhead. With the vocals almost focusing on carrying that driving rhythm while letting the guitars sing a rising melody. The instrumentation in this track is so intricate it could be an instrumental hit, nevermind the effortless aggression style of White-Gluzs’ heavy vocals!
The constant switch between the fast, pulsing pace and half time groove keep you on your toes, but not enough to be completely floored by the heavenly clean vocals in the chorus. Now, obviously Alissa is known for her heavy vocal style, but she is truly underrated and overlooked when it comes to clean vocals as even in Arch Enemy, clean vocals weren’t used that much outside of a handful of songs. Even after the chorus ends with the reintro scream and drop into a half length second verse you still get caught off guard with a small section of serenity with clean guitars to add an extra layer of dynamic change.
The song showcases the skill and songwriting talent of each member of the band but the guitarists really kick it up a level in the solo. Trading bars of shredding, Alyssa Day starts off with the perfect distortion tone that gives off almost Jim Root hints, basically setting fire to her Jackson fretboard with her speed and accuracy. Dani picks up the second half with just as much precision and speed finishing the solo with a really impressive legato run showing how impressive of a player she is.
The video itself could have its own separate review, taking place on a chess board surrounded by cloaked figures of black and white, representing different chess pieces. White-Gluz is dressed in her signature style of white ripped clothing and gloves, but making it her own instead of it being compared to her previous band. The absolute highlight for the video, personally, is in the bridge like section before the second chorus when after the lyrics “They already know my name” White-Gluz winks at the camera, as if acknowledging the reference to Arch Enemy song You Will Know My Name from her first album with the band.
All in all, this is an absolute thrasher of a track! It really shows off everyone involved, song, video and production. I can’t wait for the next Blue Medusa track!
Review written by Josh Fodden.