At the Gates’ Tomas Lindberg’s introspective lyricism broke new ground in death metal

The late frontman refused to adhere to the lyrical conventions of the genre, surveying suffering in a peerless wailing screech that will echo across the history of heavy music

Tomas Lindberg was not the voice of death metal – he was so much better than that. During his 35-year career fronting Swedish band At the Gates, he never toed the line, never grunted about loving violence and hating Christianity because the genre dictated that you do so. Rather, he ripped up the rulebook with both his messaging and his delivery, setting a new standard for distinctiveness in extreme music.

Lindberg – who has passed away aged 52 after being diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare oral cancer – was fascinated with suffering. Yet, unlike his peers, he was seldom concerned with the suffering caused by a chainsaw or organised religion. It was the suffering inside of us, rooted in our own expectations, trauma and follies. “Twenty-two years of pain and I can feel it closing in,” goes the bridge of 1995’s semi-autobiographical fan-favourite track Cold. “The will to rise above, tearing my insides out.” And Lindberg delivered each line not with a typical, guttural rumble, but with a wailing screech that made all that anguish feel even more real.