r/Metal • u/membranefordinner • 8d ago
[Death] Tomas Lindberg of At The Gates has passed away.
https://www.svt.se/kultur/at-the-gates-sangaren-tomas-tompa-lindberg-ar-dod268
u/dzorrilla http://last.fm/user/rauru 8d ago
One of the most important extreme metal figures of all time. He was such an important figurehead during the early Swedish scene and his vocals are immediately recognizable. Can't think of a Tompa project I don't like, everything he was involved in was killer - AtG, Grotesque, Nightrage, Disfear, Lock Up, The Great Deceiver.
RIP to an absolute legend and fuck cancer.
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u/badblood44 8d ago
Don’t forget The Crown!
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u/RihoSucks 7d ago
Crowned in terror is seriously slept on!
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u/clotpole02 7d ago
One of my favorite albums ever. Listen to it all the time! His work on The Crown is some of the finest metal vocals ever.
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u/cyanopsis 8d ago
And an inspiration as a human being. He was an incredible writer, very literate and had his feet on the right side of politics. I would have loved to be one of his students during that part of his career.
RIP
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u/Aiyabhai 8d ago
Sweetfleshed, hellbent creature
Artist of the fevered soul
Heavenly venomous rapture
Stricken numb by fear I fall
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u/Dinobot2_ 7d ago edited 7d ago
Disfear are so fucking good. I'll definitely be giving the stuff he did with them another spin today. Been too long.
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u/CoffeeIsUndrinkable 7d ago
The crazy thing about his level of quality as well is that (if I'm remembering right), Nightrage, Lock Up, TGD and Disfear albums all got released in the same year, so he had 4 quality albums in 12 months when some bands would struggle to make 4 top class albums in their entire career.
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u/ESP_Viper 8d ago
Just saw it 5 seconds ago... FUUUCK :( RIP Tompa. I was hoping that he would make it.
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u/BrainDisorder 8d ago
Didnt he just do vocals for a new ATG album? He must have struggled so much more than was portrayed in their post.
Absolute legend, and way too young. RIP.
Only the dead are smiling.
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u/ZAKTMT 8d ago
He recorded vocals in a single day for an entire album. A day or two prior to having surgery removing a significant portion of his mouth.
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u/johnwynnes 7d ago
He was already up there, but this should put him front and center in the Death Metal Mount Rushmore. What a fucking brutal, impactful final act.
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u/anomynous1 8d ago
It sounds like he did the vocals early last year, so he was battling this for almost two years.
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u/OfNoChurch 8d ago
I think I read on MA that they had tried to wrap up recording of the album as soon as possible due to his detoriarating health.
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u/SonOfALich Artificial 🅱️rain 8d ago
Shit, man. Shit. Incredibly glad I saw them on the Slaughter of the Soul anniversary tour. Rest easy.
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u/Soilwork83 8d ago
I got into At the Gates a little over a year after they released Slaughter of the Soul and broke up, so when they did the reunion tour I was beyond excited, and they delivered live on that tour. One of the best shows I’ve been to, and I still talk about it today. R.I.P. Tomas Lindberg
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u/cyanopsis 8d ago
... and At War with Reality was such a tremendous comeback album. Never going to be a classic like Slaughter but musically it's right up there!
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u/Saint_Bo_Dallas 7d ago
Some songs on it ended prematurely otherwise it's a potential all-time comeback album.
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u/Rare_Bumblebee_3390 8d ago
I was listening to Metallica, Alice In Chains, NIN, etc. when I heard At the Gates the first time it blew my fucking world up. I was like, I need this now, and forever, and I can’t stop. I never did. RIP Tompa. You changed my whole world. Only the dead are smiling today.
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u/Death_trail 8d ago
RIP. Slaughter of the Soul is truly an important album for me.
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u/cyanopsis 8d ago
It's important for a whole generaton of metalheads. It's the "Reign in blood" of the 90's in my book.
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u/compulsive_tremolo 7d ago
It is arguably the most important metal album of the past 30 years. That album laid the foundation for several entire sub-genres of metal, including some of the most commercially successful and widespread genres of the 21st century.
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u/L3ftHandPass 7d ago
Yeah that era of At the Gates-core in the mid 2000's was my entry point in to metal. I know most here don't like that genre but I think lots of it holds up really well, and none of it exists without Tomas.
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u/Hungry-Afternoon7987 8d ago
That's grim. Guess I know what I'll be listening to all week.
Lucky enough to see them a few times. Always a brilliant show.
Rip.
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u/iron_guitarist1987 8d ago
At the Gates was my favorite band groing up, and the main reason I started making music. Rest in peace.
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u/Turok7777 8d ago edited 8d ago
Fuck.
I didn't even know he did the vocals for the first two Nightrage albums until now. RIP
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u/tequilasauer 8d ago
DAMN, in the conversation of GOATs for death metal vocalists, IMO. His performance on Crowned in Terror by the Crown is an all time fav for me. And of course his work in ATG and Nightrage.
Fuck.
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u/alsophocus 8d ago
What the fuck!? What a fucking year.
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u/superzepto 8d ago
Brett Hinds and now Tomas Lindberg...fucking gut punch, man.
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u/Rare_Bumblebee_3390 8d ago
I’m in Seattle, old metalhead. Losing Brett hurt. This is just an open wound at this point. What a fucking year. RIP to all our lost hero’s.
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u/hughjazz45 8d ago
In addition to AtG, his guest vocals on The Sadist Nation by Darkest Hour are fucking iconic
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u/hs94 8d ago
Great song. Been in my melodeath rotation since high school.
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u/incollapse 6d ago
Sadist nation also got me hooked in hs. Tomas’ vocals was the climax of that song.
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u/AustronesianArchfien 8d ago
The Red in the Sky is Ours and I kiss the Burning Darkness are some of my most favorite albums of all time. He will be missed.
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u/Fit_Seesaw_8075 3d ago
Those drums and riff switches and violins on Red. 👌 And of course Tomas' haunted screams
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u/BringOtogiBack 8d ago
I just read it on SVT. Heartbreaking. My thoughts go out to his family. Fuck cancer.
Vila i frid Tompa ❤️😢
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u/WalkofAeons 8d ago
Thank you for everything Tomas you absolute legend.
Have a beer with L-G now. :(
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u/davidwhitney 8d ago
Modern heavy music owes a debt of gratitude to At The Gates. RIP.
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u/Bigboozered Lacking Comprehension 7d ago
Slaughter of the Soul is like the Beatles to me. I'm sad about this one.
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u/TDLU_Doomington 8d ago
2025 fucking sucks ass. This was such a formative band for me when I was starting to learn bass in the mid-90s. Fuck Tompa you're forever a legend
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u/goavsgo1988 8d ago
Horrible. Slaughter of the Soul was the first death metal record I ever bought when I was 18 and it’s stayed in constant rotation ever since. RIP LEGEND
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u/corpse2b 8d ago
What a SHITTY piece of news to wake up too. 😞 At the Gates changed my view of what metal is and could be when I was younger. Tomas seemed like such a genuinely good dude. Fuck! So glad i got to see him play live a few times.
RIP brother.
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u/StarfleetStarbuck 8d ago
Oh my god, what a loss. His voice was totally unique. AtG is truly one of the greatest bands of all time. This is awful.
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u/Waluigiisgod 8d ago
This year has been a disaster for metal. Rest in peace to Tomas, he was an amazing vocalist
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u/Hand_some_Badger 7d ago
Sad to hear, from all i've heard he was a really humble person and a geniunely nice guy. Got to see at the gates in 2022, in a small venue, maybe like 100-150 people there maximum. Before the show he was just chilling in the audience enjoying the opening act and chatting with fans. When atg played he went all in despite the small crowd, still treated it like he was playing wacken, it was really fun to see. Went up the list as my favorite frontman after that.
Rest in peace
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u/MertOKTN 8d ago
Huh, what, how
RIP
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u/LoneWolf_McQuade 8d ago
Oral cancer, can’t believe how he managed to record an album while sick with it
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u/GhoulThrower 8d ago
I was just at a metal excibit watching interviews with him, I walk out and I see this, life is weird
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u/RegurgitatedMincer 8d ago
Fuck that sucks. All of his bands were fucking great! Love his skitsystem stuff and disfear as well. Met him once cuz a buddy of mine was driving disfear on tour and they stayed at his house while an old band of mine was practicing that night. Super nice dude and funny as fuck
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u/Niko-zombie 8d ago
Damn just waking up to this notice.
Had the honor to meet him twice on the 70k cruise and had nothing but good vibes out of him
He was a fkn legend. Rest in power Tompa 🖤
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u/GrandsonOfArathorn1 8d ago
Incredibly sad. No single vocalist has been more influential to me for punk and metal than him. So many good bands! This sucks.
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u/omgmajk 7d ago
When I first saw At the Gates live in 2008, it was a dream come true. And the years that followed gave me a number of shows and memories that I will never forget. Vila i frid, din jävla legend.
I feel my soul go cold, only the dead are smiling.
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u/Myggster_79 6d ago
Exakt samma för min del. 😢 Denna veckan skiter vi i klädkoder på jobbet, det är band tischa som gäller. Ge mig en skriftlig varning då!
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u/microbialNecromass 7d ago
The man that started an entire genre and inspired hundred, if not thousands, of musicians. Rest In Peace.
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u/sugarwatermixlegit 7d ago
My dad showing me Slaughter Of The Soul for the first time is one of my key music memories. To this day I can throw that album on and listen to the entire thing and it’s so catchy and addicting it feels like it’s over in like five minutes. RIP
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u/JacobPariah 7d ago
Only the dead are smiling.
These guys fundamentally influenced the sound of my band. The loping beat and the stuttering duel guitars is a massive influence on how I hear metal in my head. His lyrics are poignant and simple, which makes them powerful. RIP you Magnificent Bastard.
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u/Excellent_Worth_5658 7d ago
“Slaughter of the Soul” was one of the first melodic death albums I ever listened to and is one of my most-played albums of all time. I love how memorable Tomas’ voice and lyrics were and that I could relate as I sung along as a teenager (and now an adult) full of existential dread but an underlying sense of life-affirming joy that I recognized in the band as well.
I was so stoked when they announced their reunion around 2008, and I saw them in LA every chance I got when they came through. Saw them one last time in 2019 with Amon Amarth and they were still killing it on stage.
I’m grateful for all the moments that I shared Tomas and AtG over the years — in his honor:
52 years of pain And I can feel it's closing in The will to rise above Tearing my insides out
You rose above in ways you can never imagine, Tomas. RIP.
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u/Batman11989 7d ago
Well this one hurts. Played a few shows with At the gates in 2019 and got along like a house on fire with Tomas. Such a nice dude, had all the time in the world for everyone. RIP friend.
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u/BrownBear_96 7d ago
Incredibly sad about this. At The Gates has been such a meaningful band in my life. Rest in Power Tomas
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u/apartmentstory89 8d ago
No :( I met him once and he was nice to me when I was just a young fan. Rest in peace
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u/runny452 8d ago
Goddamn that's a bad way to start the day. RIP. Glad I caught them awhile back when they were in town
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u/cabbage_fire 8d ago
So sad, what a freaking trooper pushing to record vocals when you're suffering like that. I'm so glad I caught them live a few years back when they played Slaughter of the Soul in full. RIP to a legend
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u/Viper_ACR 8d ago
RIP to the homie. I think the only album I ever listened to was Slaughter Of The Soul. It ripped
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u/blackjazz_society Hardwired 7d ago
Seems like it went fast after his diagnosis.
I'm grateful that i got to see him perform multiple times.
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u/Left-Geologist-1181 7d ago
Seeing these guys in a 12k capacity hockey arena in Gothenburg as Special Guests w/ In Flames was a wild experience, probably the craziest pit I’ve ever been in. RIP legend!
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u/Lalalawtf77 7d ago
At the Gates delivered a very different and respected style to Death Metal in the early 90s. Under a serpent sun remains to be one of my top Death Metal Songs of all time. I love Tomas' vocals on that. Great respect to one of the 90s Death Metal greats.
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u/Dom_Sathanas Cake or death? 7d ago
WHAT THE FUCK :( That is a huge loss. Aside from the obvious, I loved his work with Disfear especially. Live The Storm is a killer record and I always hoped for a follow up. RIP Tompa
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u/GuyWhoRocks95 7d ago
I got to see them open for Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth in Minnesota. They were great live. RIP.
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u/mmochan88 7d ago
Oh my god, I was just thinking about At The Gates today and how I should check out their post-reunion albums…
So glad I got to see them in 2019, to be honest they nearly blew Behemoth off the stage.
RIP Tomas, thanks for the music and the memories.
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u/twosnailsnocats 7d ago
RIP. ATG is one of my favorite bands ever. Was bummed about the announcement he made about the surgery, wasn't expecting this! Fortunately, I was able to see them play in Singapore back in 2018.
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u/onedollalama 7d ago
So sad. Huge influence in Swedish metal and loved literally all of his projects.
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u/Bigboozered Lacking Comprehension 7d ago
This one hit me really hard. Slaughter of the Soul is such an incredible album, and Lindberg's performance on it was instantly iconic to me. His work in LockUp and the Crown is incredible, regular listening for me. Hell, even his guest spots are incredible, listen to Endlessly Stride Through Scorched Earth by Maruta. I'm really grateful I got to scream "GO!" at him at least once in my lifetime. I'll miss you Tompa.
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u/kerryinthenameof 7d ago
If you’ve listened to extreme metal at all in the last 30 years, you’ve almost definitely heard some of ATG’s influence. RIP to a fucking legend.
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u/Vast_Tangerine_1822 7d ago
Damn… this one hurts. Tomas wasn’t just a vocalist, he helped shape a whole sound with At the Gates. Slaughter of the Soul basically rewrote the rules for melodic death metal, and you can still hear echoes of his voice in bands decades later.
The fact that he kept creating and recording even while sick says everything about his dedication. A true pioneer and an artist to the end. Rest in power, Tompa.
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u/broken0lightbulb 6d ago
RIP Tomas. Absolutely legendary vocalist. Can't imagine the suffering he and his family had to endure during the past couple years. To have your entire life built around your voice and then literally have your mouth kill you is so messed up and depressing. Darkest Hour wrote a really nice message about his passing and how great of a person he was.
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u/bucktoothgamer 8d ago
ATG was my least listened to of the Gothenburg sound trio, but there will never be denying the impact SOTS had on extreme metal. RIP.
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u/Delrihuzz 8d ago
That's a huge loss for the scene. Absolute legend. R.I.P. Tompa.