The world, simply, is a brutal place. There’s no shortage of forces at play working day in and day out to make what brief time we have on this rock more trying and difficult than, all too often, seems entirely necessary, and as I continue to get older and my body continues to find new and interesting ways to weaken, annoy, or outright fail me – it’s hard not to think of the end, right? To wonder what kind of legacy will be left behind, what memories will carry me on long after my physical self has thrown in the towel.

I’m sure Tomas Lindberg, who just tragically lost his battle with cancer, had many of the same thoughts leading up to the end. Lucky for him, he had an incredibly rich past and undeniable impact to reflect upon. Certainly, Lindberg’s kind and generous spirit would never suggest he lived a life of such magnitude, but to us fans he was an icon on par with so many of the greats throughout history, one of the masterminds behind a whole new way of playing metal music – one that would prove to be the blueprint from which bands, to this day, still follow and worship. The music that he was a part of, and the impact his work left on the world of metal, it makes the brutality of the world so much easier to face for people like you and me, and is as genuine and meaningful a legacy as any could hope to leave behind.

Together, we at Teeth of the Divine gather to celebrate the life of “Tompa,” reflect on his incredible body of work, and appreciate everything he has done to reshape the world of metal as we knew it, and how he will continue to impact on the music we love moving forward. Rest in power.

Erik T

The obvious and easy choice here is “Blinded By Fear” right? Or any other iconic riff/song from Slaughter of the Soul. Or even some of his more well-known known projects that some of my co-writers listed below. But I’ll assume everyone reading this is super familiar with that classic song or album. However, I wanted to go with something a little more obscure, and my initial choice was “Thunders Never Followed” from the killer 2017 Sign of Cain album he did vocals for. But ultimately I remembered he guested on 2 songs on the ripping 2002 debut from Israel’s At The Gate’s worshipping Nail Within, and ‘Dirty Colored Knife” is a song that still kicks my ass today, and is still one of the pure forms of At The Gates homage recorded. And I could not think of a better homage than an actual homage band and song.

Frank Rini

Anytime we are asked to do something like this to show respect to a fallen metal hero, it truly sucks. Sweden’s very own Tomas Lindberg, unfortunately, has passed away from cancer. A disease that has touched all lives, personally, I am sure, and as the saying go FUCK CANCER!! It truly is an unforgiving disease. Tomas has had an incredible impact on the metal scene with the plethora of bands he has sung in. The most obvious of his influences is his work with At The Gates. One of the main albums that many go to, people loving melodic Swedish death metal, is actually the fourth ATG album Slaughter of the Soul in 1995. One of the main reasons, outside of the band writing catchier songs and becoming more proficient, is that the album was released on Earache Records. Digby pushed the unholy living shit out of this album, and the album influenced a newer style of death metal, in the Swedish style, which increased the melody 10 fold.

Now, while I respect Tomas’ work in ATG and all his other bands, for me, believe it or not, I love his work more with the international super grind group, Lock-Up. One of the greatest grind albums ever released is the over-the-top brutal second album by Lock-Up, Hate Breeds Suffering, in 2002. This was Tomas’ first album with Lock-Up, and he showed an intensity that I really was not expecting from him. The album was rounded out by Napalm Death’s Shane Embury on bass, Nicholas Barker (pick a band-he’s a beast) on drum,s and the late Jesse Pintado (Napalm Death/Terrorizer/Nausea) on guitars. This album is 16 songs in 29 minutes and rips heads off from miles away.

The song that does it for me is the album opener “Feeding on the Opiate”. To this day find a more intense opening song-I dare you! At a brief 1.29 the song packs in the catchiness at the jump with “Play from your fucking heart” being screamed. As to where this clip originated from I cannot exactly remember, but I believe hearing it was actually from the comedian Bill Hicks, although the shouting sounds a little like Ozzy. Regardless of the fact after this moment the monstrous drum roll right into the lethal AF razor guitars come in with intense blasting. Tomas has such an aggressive vocal style. It’s his raspy vocal tone, but geared towards the aggressiveness grindcore music asks for. The lyrics are about addiction, take a gander at some of them: The fuel that feeds my pain Will make me hate again. Timebomb of frustration. Constant stranglehold. Circle downwards fast towards A chaos that’s perverse….Seasons of the infinite. Feeding on the opiate.

When Tomas spews forth these lyrics it’s done in such a fuck you, venomous tone, that it’s impossible to not feel that hatred he’s spouting. It’s a top 5 grind song for me, for certain.

Tomas Lindberg is legendary in what he brought to the extreme metal scene. Rest in Power metal brother!!

James Mays

Tomas Lindberg was a legend. It’s no exaggeration to say death metal wouldn’t be what it is and where it is without him. If somehow you weren’t aware of his work, just know that he is your favorite frontman’s favorite frontman. His roar was unmistakable, and it’s a cliché, but often imitated and never duplicated. Whether it was At The Gates, Lock Up, The Great Deceiver, or the band I’m spotlighting today, Nightrage, his presence was always the main event. While he only performed on two of the band’s albums, he was the reason they came to my attention. An idiot friend of mine called them nu metal, but that friend was wrong. Check out “The Glow of the Setting Sun” and tell me it’s not pure melodic death metal, juicy goodness. RIP to one of the greatest.

Jeremy Beck

Today I’m gutted once again by a musician’s death. It hasn’t been long since we lost Ozzy and now, I’m facing another death with Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg, vocalist for numerous bands; but most famously known as the lungs of At the Gates. Picking one song from his vast catalog of music, for me anyway, is a really tough task so I’m going to pick an entire album, The Red in the Sky is Ours; but I’m going to single out “Kingdom Gone” for my chosen song. It was the first track I ever heard from them, it was on a sampler cassette, and I was immediately hooked. I was also fortunate enough to get to see them live in 2016 for the At War With Reality tour with the Haunted. It was a fantastic show with Tomas on fire throughout their set.

Rest in peace, you always played from your fucking heart, and fought till the end.

Steve K

One thing we all have in common – we all just want a place we feel we belong. After the unfortunate death of Black Dahlia Murder legend Trevor Strnad in 2022, my mind immediately reflected on how his work, and the work he had done to uplift and empower other bands in America’s growing metalcore/NWOAHM scene in the early 00’s helped build a community and scene I finally, as a weird high school student, felt like I was a part of. The music of that time will forever be held in the highest regard for me.

Taking it one step further, it’s undeniable how much of an impact Tomas Lindberg had on making any of that even possible.

To that end, I chose a song that I vividly remember absolutely blowing my mind at the time of it’s release – not just because of the quality of the song, but because of a surprise guest vocal spot by the legend “Tompa” himself, Darkest Hour’s “The Sadist Nation.” Darkest Hour was one of the fastest rising, most hyped bands in the American Metalcore scene at the time, and certainly one that so many lazily (but not necessarily incorrectly) labeled as “blatant At The Gates worship.” So when Tomas Lindberg himself lent his iconic vocals to the opening track of that breakthrough record, it felt like absolute vindication – not just for the music I loved, but the entire scene that would become such a meaningful building block in my life.

Thank you, Tomas, for everything you did in your career, but my sincerest thanks for helping an awkward teenager feel like he was part of something special.