Dark Tranquillity’s Mikael Stanne Remembers At The Gates’ Tomas Lindberg
Last week, the metal world was shocked to learn that At The Gates‘ Tomas Lindberg had passed away at the age of 52 after battling a rare form of cancer. It was a shocking bit of news and yet another instance of a musician being taken away from us at far too young. And now in the wake of his passing, those left behind are remembering the man that was Tomas Lindberg.
One person that’s reflected on his connection to Lindberg was Dark Tranquillity and The Halo Effect frontman Mikael Stanne. During a recent appearnace on Chile’s PowerOfMetal.cl, he thought back to Lindberg’s importance to the Gothenburg death metal scene and his personal feelings on the late musician.
“I met [Lindberg] when I was 14. I went with a friend to their rehearsal room in the basement of Kristian Wåhlin [Necrolord]… and they were rehearsing with Grotesque that later became [At The Gates]. And it blew me away. I saw a band that played music live in a basement. And I’d never seen that before. And it was crazy, insane black metal stuff. And I was so inspired by it and kind of awestruck by it.”
It wasn’t long after that Lindberg and Stanne became friends. Both introduced each other to diffferent bands, but they also shared a deep passion for extreme music. Looking back, Stanne said it was Lindberg’s love of the extreme side of metal that really helped drive the Gothenburg scene.
“More than anything, I think Tompa really inspired the scene, because he was kind of that central figure for everything that went on in Gothenburg at the time. He was so passionate about it, and he was so into it, and he knew every band… So without him, there would be no Gothenburg death metal scene; that’s just a fact.”
Though he admitted that Lindburg played a huge role in the Gothenburg death metal scene, Stanne said the biggest impact he made came in the form of his lyricism and artistry. Without those aspects of his professional life, Stanne said things would be very different.
“When I discovered extreme metal through bands like Kreator and Cannibal Corpse, I loved it but didn’t know if it was serious or not. But he showed me that, no, this is serious. There are bands that take this very seriously, and there are lyrics that matter… It’s because of how he showed me what music could and should be. So, yeah, without him there would be no [Gothenburg] death metal scene. So we’re eternally grateful. And I miss him like crazy.”
Lindberg had succumbed to adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) after battling the disease for two years. Back in December 2023, he had major surgery done to remove a portion of the roof of his mouth, along with some chemotherapy. Sadly, his cancer came back in early 2024 and he was unable to recover by May.
Stanne said there was hope for Lindberg’s recovery, but that all went away in recent months.
“It’s been a horrible two years knowing that he was struggling and battling this disease.”Everybody thought, of course, ‘Yeah, it’s gonna be fine. He’s gonna power through.’ But a couple months ago we realized that it’s DSSSSSSSSSSS
