NAPALM DEATH's SHANE EMBURY Remembers Late AT THE GATES Frontman TOMAS LINDBERG: 'He Was A Really Important Person For The Scene'

In a new interview with Stefan Nilsson of Roppongi Rocks, NAPALM DEATH bassist Shane Embury spoke about last year's passing of his longtime friend and LOCK UP bandmate, founding AT THE GATES frontman Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg. Shane said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, Tomas, he's been my close friend, I suppose, since about 1996. He was ... He still feels like he's here, really, for me. So, how long is that? 30 years, I think. But I first met him in 1989 at a NAPALM DEATH show. And then I met him briefly again in 1994, when AT THE GATES released 'Terminal Spirit Disease', I think it was. But he was a really important person for the scene. He used to have a couple of beers and he would tell people, 'Oh, yeah, I invented the Gothenburg [Sweden metal] scene.' He was doing it tongue in cheek, but I sort of believe he did, to be honest. But we used to talk a lot. And strangely enough, on the last few releases, he would always send me the lyrics to read. I don't know why. He would say, 'Does this make sense in English?' I'm, like, 'Well, yes, it's fine.' And occasionally there'd be different things, different wordings, but I thought that was better, in a way. But I don't know why he always sent it. Because we used to have a similar kind of lyrical approach, I think. When we used to write together in LOCK UP, we would be quite philosophical, in a way."

Shane continued: "[Tomas was a] very deep thinker. And, of course, being in the heavy metal scene, it's an extreme world. If you're disciplined, unlike me, and probably unlike Tompa too, we'd drink, we'd party and get crazy. And a lot of people in the metal scene are like-minded individuals. We come together. It's almost like we're almost like shamans — whatever you wanna call it, really. We sort of channel these emotions. So he was a good friend. And it was very sad [when he died]. Really, really sad."

AT THE GATES' latest album, "The Ghost Of A Future Dead", came out on April 24 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2021's "The Nightmare of Being" marks a special tribute to Lindberg, who tragically passed away in September 2025. The LP features Tomas's final vocal recordings, recorded as demos before his 2024 surgery.

Lindberg was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare oral cancer, in December 2023, which led to a major surgery that removed a large portion of the roof of his mouth. He had also undergone radiation treatment and had been on a path to recovery, but then doctors found traces of the cancer in early 2025. In May 2025, an undisclosed "setback" placed Tomas in long-term care.

Lindberg was 52 years old at the time of his death.

In August 2025, Tomas's AT THE GATES bandmates announced that the singer was receiving "around-the-clock" care at an unspecified hospital after being diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC),a rare, slow-growing but aggressive cancer that typically develops in the salivary glands, particularly the minor salivary glands of the head and neck.