Death metal legends At The Gates have posted a moving tribute to frontman Tomas Lindberg and revealed how they went about recording their new album following his cancer diagnosis.
Following Lindberg's adenoid cystic carcinoma diagnosis in December 2023, the Swedish melodeath innovators decided to move forward with the album, recording in Jens Bogren's Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden in the early part of 2024.
"We had the album pretty much written by mid December 2023, when Tomas got the bad news," the band explain via a new social media post. "We decided together with him that we probably should move ahead and record the music in February/March as planned and then record the vocals later in 2024."
However, at that point, Lindberg's condition began to deteriorate, and he was unable to contribute his finished vocal parts to the record.
Article continues below"As this plan never materialized, we went back to check the demo vocals he had been recording prior to the studio recording with Per Stålberg," At The Gates continue. "We were all very surprised by how good these takes were, especially Tomas himself.
"While in Fascination Street Studios we kept Tomas in the loop every day sending pictures, videos and progress reports in order to give him something positive to focus on after the first surgery and recuperation period. The recording went very well and we all gave our 100% for this album."
The band initially planned to release and promote the album upon Lindberg's recovery. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be: in September 2025, just months after he had gone public with his cancer diagnosis, the beloved singer passed away aged 52.
"The whole of 2024 and some months into 2025 became just a waiting game for Tomas to recuperate and get better," At The Gates explain. "We continuously pushed the album forward trying to find a release date that would work. In the first months of 2025 things actually looked a bit brighter, but in early May [Tomas] went through a setback that he never recovered from.
"In August we felt the time was right to publish the news regarding his situation. This is an extremely important album for us all. We have poured our hearts into it. Hope you will like it too."
The resulting album, The Ghost of a Future Dead, will be released on April 24, featuring the vocals Lindberg contributed to those aforementioned demo recordings. It will serve as At The Gates' tribute to their fallen frontman.
"Tomas, we miss your smile, your warmth, your creativity, your compassion and your humour," they state. "You inspired us in everything; from picking up instruments and starting a band back in the day, getting us interested in all kinds of music, art and literature.
"The world will never be the same. You are forever missed. This album is for you."
At The Gates recently released the first preview of The Ghost of a Future Dead via its first single, The Fever Mask, featuring a beautiful tribute to Lindberg in the song's video. You can watch it below.
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