AT THE GATES Celebrates The Life And Legacy Of TOMAS LINDBERG With 'The Ghost Of A Future Dead'

By David E. Gehlke

AT THE GATES frontman Tomas Lindberg passed away last September at age 52 after succumbing to adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC),a rare, slow growing but aggressive cancer that typically develops in the salivary glands. Lindberg's loss has been incalculable. His acidic, searing vocal mechanisms across his career in AT THE GATES, not to forget the numerous side projects and guest appearances that bore his name, placed him in the upper echelon of extreme metal vocalists. He was also a strong, central presence throughout the Swedish metal scene, an early champion of death metal and an ambassador for his hometown of Gothenburg, which gave rise to melodic death metal.

The band's apparent final, just-released studio offering, "The Ghost Of A Future Dead", is a callback to the straightforward, streamlined approach found in 1995's universal classic, "Slaughter Of The Soul", as well as their 2014 comeback album, "At War With Reality". The new LP's direction was accelerated by the 2022 return of lead guitarist Anders Björler, whose identifiable songwriting stamp is clear. And, to add an extra degree of urgency and importance to the proceedings, Lindberg cut all of his vocals just days before he was to undergo surgery to remove the upper portion of his mouth. True to form, Lindberg sounds as convincing as ever.

The future of AT THE GATES remains up in the air. The Swedes have not officially split, nor have they announced any plans beyond the release of "The Ghost Of A Future Dead". One thing was for sure when BLABBERMOUTH.NET caught up with bassist Jonas Björler: Lindberg is virtually irreplaceable, and it may take a while before the remaining members of AT THE GATES fully process that he's no longer here.

Blabbermouth: How is the band holding up after all of this? Are things getting any easier, or is it still fresh on everyone's mind?

Jonas: "It was quite shocking last September with the news coming, even though the last couple of weeks were bad, we knew it was going in the wrong direction. You can never anticipate something like this. I mean, honestly, we haven't quite landed in the realization of it yet. It's hard. The album was done in 2024, then we waited it out. He was diagnosed in December 2023, and then we had the studio booked in February. We decided, because everything was done already, the songs were done, lyrics, everything, all the arrangements, we decided to go ahead and go into the studio and record the music. Tomas recorded the last three songs — he didn't do demos for them. He hurried up and did those because his surgery was in February."

Blabbermouth: What was it like watching Tomas cut vocals as he's dealing with his diagnoses and everything that came with it?

Jonas: "He's really effective. He works well with [producer] Per Stålberg. He did the vocals there for the last record [2021's 'The Nightmare Of Being']. They are a good team. It was kind of a rush, but he still knew what he was doing. He only had to rush the last three songs, so we had something to use if things got worse. He was having surgery to remove the bottom half of his jaw. He didn't know how that would affect his performance. He wanted to safeguard everything and get those takes done."

Blabbermouth: Did having your brother back in the band help knowing it was possibly the last record?

Jonas: "It helped. 'The Nightmare Of Being' was very progressive, and we were open to bringing different inspirations. We talked about going back to the roots more, like 'Slaughter Of The Soul' and 'At War With Reality', kind of songs. When Anders rejoined in 2022, we thought, 'Yeah, that's perfect timing to do this, going back to easy song structures, hard-hitting stuff.'"

Blabbermouth: It was always a little weird not seeing your brother in AT THE GATES. I imagine the same for you, though he often said he wasn't into touring.

Jonas: "Yeah, the main thing for him was being on the road. He's always interested in writing music, being in the studio, and the creative process, but being on the road is not for him. He was in and out of THE HAUNTED for a few years. It's hard. Anders, Tomas and I are a good team at coming up with ideas and putting songs together. I'm going to miss that now. Anders and I split songwriting 60/40 this time. On this record, we started with a simple idea: maybe have a verse and a chorus riff. Then Tomas wrote the lyrics, and we did the vocal structures for the songs. We send demos back and forth, and then it turns into a song. Otherwise, we discard it. There's a lot happening online where we send songs back and forth. Adrian [Erlandsson, drums] is in the U.K. now, and I'm also three and a half hours away from Gothenburg now. It's not ideal to meet physically. We haven't had a rehearsal space since 2008 or something. Before tours, we rent a studio and are there for a few days to practice."

Blabbermouth: Did Tomas have "The Ghost Of A Future Dead" album title in mind, or did the rest of the band decide on it later?

Jonas: "The album title was originally meant to be 'The Dissonant Void', the second track. Then, after Tomas's surgery and after the first couple of radiation treatments, maybe April of 2024, he came up with the new title. I think it's because of all that happened mentally, going through that surgery and all the radiation therapy treatments. He said to me that he had nightmares, night terrors, because of the medication, and it was a horrible period for him. That's why he came up with the more ominous, foreboding kind of title. This title reflects what he was dealing with at the time."

Blabbermouth: Tomas was said to have kept a positive attitude throughout all of this. Were you able to do the same?

Jonas: "We were supporting him and were also positive. You have to remember that it was positive from the surgery in February 2024 up until February 2025; there was progress all the time. Only good news all the time. I mean, minor traces of the cancer returning, but it was manageable. Then, in May 2025, it got really worse. He got a massive brain infection. That's when everything started to crumble. I think people knew what was happening. I think we decided in early 2024 to cancel all the shows we had that year. Then the rumors started popping up, but people knew something serious was happening."

Blabbermouth: Have you listened to the album recently?

Jonas: "Yeah, and it's kind of depressing to hear his voice sometimes. Also, I'm very happy to be able to put it out now, as a legacy to Tomas and all the hard work we did. I mean, there are mixed emotions. There are positive and negative feelings at the same time, for me, at least. It's almost two years in the making now. We mixed it in May 2024. It feels really old now."

Blabbermouth: You mention "The Nightmare Of Being" as sounding progressive. Would you have ever wanted to venture out that way again? Your early albums featured violin as well. It would be interesting to see where that would lead again.

Jonas: "Tomas and I were talking a year ago, maybe a year and a half, we wanted to do a double-vinyl, like one side would be progressive. We had ideas, but it's not going to happen now. AT THE GATES is not bound to any standard ways of doing music. That's the good thing about it. We're not afraid to incorporate whatever into the music."

Blabbermouth: Do you miss the days when you had 57 riffs in every song, like on (1992's) "The Red In The Sky Is Ours"?

Jonas: [Laughs] "That's when we had a youthful spirit. Nowadays, it's more about doing the song a favor and taking out a few parts if they don't need to be there. It was so challenging technically, just remembering all the parts. That was the challenge. Also, Anders and I were only playing our instruments for two years before the 'Red' album. We were not very good at our instruments, either. But now that this is the final chapter of AT THE GATES, Anders and I might explore it in some other project."

Blabbermouth: Is this it for songs? Are there any leftovers?

Jonas: "No. This is it."

Blabbermouth: This is showing the passage of time, but we're now at 30 years since AT THE GATES first split in 1996. Of course, "Slaughter" didn't catch on for another ten years. How do you view those days now?

Jonas: "We were out touring, something like 150 days, and Anders was just tired of being on the road. That summer of '96, we got more offers in the fall, and he said, 'I'm out.' He didn't want to do it. Also, there was no money. [Laughs] I mean, we still wanted to play music, but he thought he couldn't do it anymore for free. Now, in retrospect, it was probably a good thing that we broke up and returned in 2007. We were so much bigger. I don't know what would have happened if we had continued. I think it was, in a way, in one sense it was a good thing. I joined THE HAUNTED a month after that, then Anders came along in the fall."

Blabbermouth: When you got back together, was it considered a short-term thing? Did you expect it to last this long?

Jonas: "The response was so overwhelming when we got back together in 2007. We thought we would stop in 2008, but later on, we got more offers and started up again in 2011. We picked it up again and were doing South American stuff, including territories we hadn't done before. Then, it turned into the 'At War With Reality' album, and we decided to do more new music. We had a great time doing those reunion shows. We thought, 'What the heck. Let's try to make some new songs.' Anders came up with two or three demo songs in a week. One of those was 'The Book Of Sand' and 'Death And The Labyrinth', so we thought, 'Yeah, let's do it.' Everyone views 'Slaughter' as the milestone, but I think 'At War' is a really good comeback album."

Blabbermouth: Are there any plans for tribute shows for Tomas?

Jonas: "We haven't talked about that yet. We're not sure if we'll do it. I would say we have no plans. I don't mind if other bands do a celebration for Tomas. I think that's a good thing. DARK TRANQUILLITY did something like that in Gothenburg; they raised money for the cancer program. For us, we have to really think about this, and it has to feel right. There are no plans right now. We have to be sensitive to how we do it."

Blabbermouth: It was nice to read the testimonials about Tomas and his role as an ambassador for the Gothenburg metal scene. What kind of influence did he have on you?

Jonas: "We met him in '89. My brother and I came from the thrash scene, like METALLICA and SLAYER. We had no clue about the underground. When we met Tomas, we went to his place, and he had the typical boy's room, but he had the death metal flyers, death metal magazines and stuff like that, so you were drawn into this magic world. We were really amazed. We started to check out all the black and death metal bands. He was a very inspirational character for us in Gothenburg. He totally changed my life because we had no clue there was an underground movement or even that kind of music."