DARK TRANQUILLITY, THE CROWN And THE HALO EFFECT To Perform At Charity Concert Honoring AT THE GATES' TOMAS LINDBERG
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November 14 marked the 30th anniversary of the iconic, globally influential and genre-defining masterpiece that is AT THE GATES' "Slaughter Of The Soul". Sadly, the voice behind the timeless classic did not make it to see the anniversary, as AT THE GATES frontman Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg passed away from cancer on September 16. As a small token of appreciation for the legendary legacy of both Tompa and the album, fans are hereby invited to a night in his honor on December 6 at Monument 031 in Gothenburg, Sweden, where all ticket sales will go directly to Cancerfonden and the Gardens Of Grief fund set up there by Elis Markskog of Malmö Massacre.
A very special lineup of friends — DARK TRANQUILLITY, THE CROWN and THE HALO EFFECT — will take the stage to perform, honoring the influence of the iconic sound Tompa helped form, and celebrate the life of one of the best to ever have done it.
Please note: this is a celebration of Lindberg's legacy — not full-set concerts. The aim is to gather friends, fans and family alike and celebrate the music and honor their friend.
In a recent interview with Luisina Reynoso of Argentina's Cuero Y Metal, DARK TRANQUILLITY and THE HALO EFECT frontman Mikael Stanne spoke about Lindberg's death. Asked what Tomas meant to the metal scene in Gothenburg, Sweden, Stanne said: "We kind of grew up in the same part of town; he was a very close neighbor to me. And he was two years older, and he had a lot of experience. He started in the metal scene early. He had a fanzine. He had a band when he was 15. And he was just such a dedicated and passionate music fan, and it was really contagious. The way that he spoke about music and the way that he thought about music and kind of lived through music was infectious. Everybody around him kind of started to feel the same way, and he loved to kind of spread the music that he loved. So we spent a lot of time just at home in his room listening to demos and cassettes and live tapes and things that he got through his fanzine or that he would collect or buy from all over the world. And I was a collector as well, and we bonded over that."
Stanne continued: "He had GROTESQUE, his first band, and it was this insane black metal band. And I went to see them all the time. And I couldn't believe it because he was such a nice, gentle, very courteous and well-mannered, soft-spoken guy, but on stage he was an absolute beast. And it was pentagrams and inverted crosses and blood and skulls and shit, and it was the coolest thing in the world. And I was 15, 16, as I went to these shows, and it was the coolest thing in the world. And, of course, once AT THE GATES started, that inspired us a lot, but I think in general he was kind of the hub that we all gathered around. The metal community was small but very, very passionate at the time."
Referencing the fact that Tomas died 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, Mikael said: "Of course I've known that he was sick for years, or a year and a half, and so it's been really difficult to kind of live with that and knowing that the worst might happen. But we always kind of remained very hopeful and positive up until the end. So, yeah, it's been really difficult, but, fortunately, all of his friends are also my friends, of course. And so it's been a good community to kind of talk to and hang out with them. We have a lot of kind of gatherings planned that we can just sit and talk about him and kind of remember the good stuff."
Lindberg received the diagnosis 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.
AT THE GATES released its definitive album, "Slaughter Of The Soul" — often regarded as one of the all-time greatest metal albums — on Earache in 1995, before touring the world and abruptly disbanding. Members of the band went on to play major roles in other notorious metal acts such as THE HAUNTED and CRADLE OF FILTH, before reforming in 2008, with Lindberg juggling his day job as a teacher with being a death metal frontman.
AT THE GATES' latest studio album, "The Nightmare Of Being", came out in 2021.
Lindberg revealed in a statement earlier this year that AT THE GATES recorded a new album before he underwent mouth surgery.
"The last version of the vocals, the ones that will end up on the album, were recorded in ONE day, mostly one takes, the DAY before the surgery, just to make sure we HAD the album, so to speak," the statement said. "So the vocals were actually recorded BEFORE the rest of the album.... a bit different, but it felt good to have it done."
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
