2025 is almost in the books and it’s finally time for me to cap off the year with the obligatory “best of” list. This year I’ve trimmed the list from 10 to 5 albums, as I haven’t had the time or inclination to visit a whole ton of newer release stuff. Also there were several new albums that didn’t really land with me so 5 it is. Nothing much more to say so let’s have at it.
5: Sodom – The Arsonist
The German thrash legends have been around forever now. Their 17th album goes into another gear and is far from a band resting on their laurels, well-earned as that may be. It’s hard to say how many more Sodom albums will come down the pipe, so it’s nice to have this excellent slab on what is the later years of their career.
4: Coroner – Dissonance Theory
It was 32 years between releases for the Swiss prog-thrashers. Their return album kept things a bit more straightforward than the the group was previously known for, but it was done in a very welcome fashion. It took a literal lifetime to get this record but it was totally worth it.
3: Die Spitz – Something To Consume
Every year there is a “who the hell is this band, oh shit this album rules” entry and we have arrived to that point. This group hails from Austin, Texas and offered up their full-length debut in September. And they’ve captured notice with a sound that operates in punk and grunge while also adding a heavy slab of doom metal. This is as if L7 and High On Fire collided with each other and an album was the result of the crash.
2: Turnpike Troubadours – The Price Of Admission
I haven’t kept up much with country music like I used to 12 or more years ago, but it was impossible to ignore the buzz around this album. Kind of funny that it generated so much talk since it was pretty much a surprise release in April. This is country in its purest form – sad and beautiful. This is a career album for the group who has been running nearly 20 years now.
Album of the Year 2025
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
Speaking of career albums, the defining act of what is known as “blackgaze” most likely released their pinnacle album in 2025. While they basically formed the subgenre with their 2012 masterpiece Sunbather, on this album they have actually surpassed that earlier record. This is a collection of soundscapes that eclipses any real genre tags and can only possess the catch-all term “post-rock.” It has the familiar “shoegaze music with black metal vocals” vibes but also is so much more in composition and arrangement. Every song on this album is basically its own masterpiece, it’s tough to pinpoint one triumphant moment from the record. I will say the songs Magnolia, Winona and the album-closing The Marvelous Orange Tree are all prime offerings. But this record functions so well as a whole that picking singles is a fool’s errand. Just play the whole thing.
That does it for 2025. We will see what next year has in store.
A quick one today to recap some news that hit yesterday about a massive new box set chronicling the earliest part of Ritche Blackmore’s career in Rainbow. A set called Temple Of The King will release on March 6, 2026 and features an insane NINE cd’s of music.
Now -this set is not a deluxe album collection, something even some casual collectors might jump all over. This is the first of several sets intended to cover Blackmore’s career, which I’ll presume will cover all of Rainbow’s long run and possibly also his other projects. Though do note that this format likely won’t extend to Deep Purple, which Blackmore would not have sole control of.
What we get across these nine discs are the first two Rainbow albums – Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow and Rising. The remaining discs are loaded with live shows and the final disc offers up a series of rough mix and alternate rarities.
Given that the crux of the content is live stuff, I decided to go ahead and pre-order this monstrosity. I do have these first two albums hanging out in my cd collection but I saw this and said “what the hell, why not.” I haven’t often been one for the deluxe box set covering just an album or so kind of thing, but this one seemed fine at nine discs for a $100 price point. Add in the fact that this set covers the years 1975 and ’76, which means Ronnie James Dio would feature as the singer on all of the content and I was sold.
The layman might view the tracklists with skepticism, as the live concerts only feature three or four songs per CD. Rest assured that when Blackmore and Rainbow played live in the ’70’s, Blackmore showed up to play his damn guitar. Many songs from the live shows of this era run over ten minutes. And while I don’t know the exact run times of the offerings here, there were some jams that went on for over twenty minutes back in the early Rainbow days. While each disc might only feature roughly thirty minutes or so of music, the sets might have been too long to fit on one CD, with a generally given run time of 80 minutes. Or maybe they could have each fit on a single CD and this presentation is a bit excessive. I don’t know, I guess I’ll find out in March.
Time will speak to the exact worthiness of this set, but overall I think it’s in good shape with two albums, three live shows and a rarities disc. It also clearly opens the door to future installments that would run past Dio’s time in Rainbow and cover the more commercial rock era that featured Graham Bonnet and later Joe Lynn Turner. And the list of other players who were in and out of Rainbow over the years could honestly fill a book. We’ll see how the overseers of this material, assuming Blackmore is among them, choose to present future offerings. But we are off to a running start with two mega classic albums, the immortal tones of Ronnie James Dio, and enough Ritchie Blackmore guitar to fill a planet with soundwaves.
Tragic and terrible news from over the weekend, as renowned director, producer and actor Rob Reiner has passed away. He and his wife Michele were found dead in their Los Angeles home. The further details of this case are grim so I’ll just leave them alone other than to say that it was an apparent homicide. Rob was 78 years old, Michele was 68.
Reiner was born to legendary comic actor Carl Reiner and actress/singer Estelle Reiner. Rob got his start in acting during the 1960’s, landing bit parts in many well-known series of the time. He would land what many consider his signature role as Michael “Meathead” Stivic on the beloved sitcom All In The Family, playing foil to Carroll O’Connor’s famous Archie Bunker.
Reiner began his long-running directing career in 1984 with the film that lands his obituary on these pages with the cult classic This Is Spinal Tap. Reiner would go on a run of massive success that kicked off with 1986’s Stand By Me and ran through to 1992’s A Few Good Men, and he would continue to find success through the remainder of his career. He would also be found in several acting roles, including Throw Momma From The Train and The Wolf Of Wall Street.
Reiner’s career spanned a long time and incorporated several elements of movie and TV making, but of course I’m going to use a few more words to expound on the subject I’ve already covered in great detail – the film that both created the “mockumentary” genre and also hit a bullseye in portraying the hard rock and heavy metal scene of the early 1980’s. Spinal Tap was the concoction of Reiner as well as the principal actors – Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest. Invented originally for comedy tv skits, Reiner would secure financing from his old pal Norman Lear (creator of All In The Family) and film in an ad-lib style to let the film essentially write itself. Reiner directed the effort and also portrayed Martin “Marty” Di Bergi, the documentary maker chronicling the hi-jinx of Spinal Tap.
This Is Spinal Tap did not light the world on fire when it was released, but as the years wore on it became a cult classic. Nostalgia only brought the film more fondness and the band became an institution beyond the scope of the initial film. It took 41 years but we did get a sequel in the form of Spinal Tap II – The End Continues, which hit theaters earlier this year and appears to be Reiner’s final film project. He did have one more thing in the can and it does involve Spinal Tap – the band filmed a farewell concert that is set to release sometime in 2026.
It was a senseless, tragic act that took away Rob and Michele. But there is a lot of Rob Reiner to fondly remember. He has any number of classic films to his credit, and his role as “Meathead” was an all-time performance. For me I’ll obviously most remember Spinal Tap, though many of his other films are classic works of art. Rest easy Rob and Michele, and thanks for all the memories.
It is Thanksgiving here in the United States and today I’d like to give thanks for having a few days off of my damn job and also for this new Megadeth song to dig into.
I Don’t Care was thrust upon the world a few weeks back on November 14th. Thanks to the aforementioned job, I am just now getting to making a post about it. The song hails from the self-titled album due to arrive on January 23rd, 2026. This is slated to be the final Megadeth record.
This song is the upcoming album’s second single and this one caused quite a stir when it hit. The song is a snarling, punk-based track that recalls the early influences of thrash while still very much being a 2025 Megadeth song. It is an interesting combination of styles, with the punk-rooted ethos combining with the clinical precision that typically defines Megadeth. The production strays clearly on the side of Megadeth’s typical sound, which might detract a bit from the punk edge but I do think it works well enough for a Megapunk song 40 years into the band’s career. And, regardless of the song’s tone and style, we do get a fair few guitar solos even in this fairly brief jaunt that just touches 3 minutes.
The lyrics here are extremely simple, it’s basically just a chorus of “I don’t care” about various things as well as a short, quietly almost-rapped verse that says quite a few bad things about someone. While the target of Dave Mustaine’s diatribe is unknown, many speculate that it might be a prominent ex-member of Megadeth. I don’t know and I’ll leave it at that until or unless more information becomes known later.
This song caused a fair bit of chatter when it was released. Some enjoyed it and others found things to dislike, whether it was the Megadeth style clashing with the more raw punk theme or the lyrics that aren’t the most mature that Mustaine has ever offered up. I personally enjoyed the song, I don’t have a problem with the slight stylistic departure from typical Megadeth. While the band’s stock in trade has usually been clockwork precision and massive amounts of guitar solos, I think it’s fair for Dave and company to branch out a bit, especially this far in and on the swansong album.
I also very much don’t care if the lyrics aren’t profound existential statements. While I enjoy plenty of metal that does have a more intellectual sheen to it and Megadeth has been a band to offer that up at times, I am also quite fine with heavy riffs and caveman bullshit coming out of someone’s mouth. A song called I Don’t Care doesn’t need to usher in a philosophical thesis, it’s allowed to be dumb. This to me isn’t so bad that it needs to be sneered upon, it’s simply fitting a theme and some songs can be fun and dumb.
I am on board the I Don’t Care train, and I’m looking forward to this album’s arrival in the dead of winter early next year. And even if I wasn’t, I am quite sure that Dave doesn’t care.
Last week David Coverdale made the announcement that many of us knew was coming – he has retired from music. He posted a short video with the announcement as well as a remixed version of the song Fare Thee Well, from Whitesnake’s 2011 album Forevermore.
David did not offer up a long-winded list of reasons for stepping away, nor did he need to. He has been visited with several health issues over the years which prevented Whitesnake from offering a proper farewell tour. The band’s final show wound up being a performance at France’s Hellfest in 2022, a show that featured a guest shot from former guitarist Steve Vai on the final song.
The writing was on the wall for this retirement for several years now, but does cap the end of a five decade career in rock. Coverdale played in UK bands for a few years before landing with Deep Purple for three albums in the mid-70’s. He would then embark on a solo venture after Purple disbanded. His solo efforts would morph into the band Whitesnake, which became Coverdale’s main vehicle for the remainder of his career. He also had a well-received collaboration with Jimmy Page in the early ’90’s.
I personally came into Whitesnake in their rising heyday in the mid-80’s. Slide It In had stuff in rotation in my area, which had a prominent rock station. Then in 1987 the self-titled album blew up and Whitesnake was off to the races. I would then backtrack to the earlier blues-based Whitesnake and the Deep Purple albums. I never got to see them live but I’ve been along for the ride with the albums over the years and I have really enjoyed the 2000’s Whitesnake output.
We do often joke about musician retirements because of, well, the mountain of evidence that retirements aren’t often worth the paper they’re printed on. But in David’s case this one is likely rock solid. He is sadly not up to the rigors of performing his music at 74 years old and with a host of health issues he has faced over the years. It is unfortunate that Whitesnake didn’t get to go out with a final tour or even a planned final show, but Coverdale still gets to bow out and enjoy his years. He has remained active with Whitesnake’s back catalog reissues so I’m sure more is coming from that and hopefully the Covedale-Page album gets its much-needed revisit at some point.
The curtain call has arrived for David Coverdale, but there is a half-century’s worth of great rock music to look back on and celebrate. And with any luck, David will be in a position to look back along with us and share more insights on his illustrious career.
Ace Frehley died yesterday at 74 years old. He was famous most obviously for his two stints in Kiss, being a part of their legendary ascent in the 1970’s as well as the mega-hyped reunion tour of the late 1990’s. Ace also had a prolific solo career in his times away from Kiss.
Ace was a guitar hero to generations of fans as well as many rock and metal musicians. He was a primary influence on a lot of the music I listen to, even some of the heaviest metal guitarists celebrate Ace as the reason they wanted to pick up guitars.
I don’t have much more to say for now. Oddly and sadly enough, this post is pre-empting another tribute post to a recently-deceased musician. But it’s impossible not to note the passing of a rock legend. Rest in peace, Spaceman, and enjoy your travels in the great beyond.
Today is a special occasion as we have been granted a new Megadeth song. This isn’t just any song, this is the lead single from what is billed as Megadeth’s final album. We now have this new song to get into as well as more specific info about the album to go over, and we also have a few, uh, curious points that have come up the past week or so to also swing with.
This is obviously, BY FAR the biggest thing going on in music today so let’s get into all of this.
First up we have the new song called Tipping Point. The song has been on streaming services since midnight in various regions, but the music video dropped just a few minutes before I wrote this. This one opens up ferociously and plows on for the first few minutes before the requisite Megadeth guitar solos and then a breakdown section before a more mid-paced finale. While any reactions of mine are very quick at this point, I will say I do very much enjoy this song. It does sound in keeping with the better parts of Megadeth since their 2004 renaissance.
In addition to the new single, we also now have more information about the upcoming album. The album will release on January 23, 2026 and is simply titled Megadeth. The image we got of Vic Rattlehead in flames from the prior retirement announcement is the album’s cover. There was no new press information released when pre-orders went live, the press is mostly reusing the statement Dave Mustaine made in August when announcing the band’s final album and farewell tour.
Now, as I said there are a few things to discuss beyond the song and album info. Tipping Point has actually been in circulation for over a week now. The song was leaked and very briefly uploaded to official streaming platforms. It seemed to hit Spotify in a few international territories but I don’t recall it making the US list. I caught a snippet of the leak but I did not pursue the full song leak, I figured like many that the leak was a mishap and I just waited for the official drop today. Music leaks are a very early 2000’s thing that really hold no true bearing in the modern streaming marketplace.
In addition to the song leak, we actually were also “treated” to an early info drop of the album name and cover. The music retailer Rough Trade had posted pre-order info for the new album a few days ago and their listing did accurately portray the cover and title. Rough Trade did pull the listing and re-list just a bit ago along with the wider retail offerings. Also, having nothing really to do with this post, Rough Trade’s website is so slow that I was waiting for the nostalgic dial-up Internet noise while things were loading. Anyway…
It does seem as if there’s some ill coordination in Camp Megadeth. Music does leak, sure, but like I said earlier, music leaks aren’t a massive deal like they used to be in the download and piracy era. But it does look either like a “planted” leak or some unintentional screw up. I’d personally bet on the latter. The album pre-order going live on one site early is probably a mess up on the part of the retailer and isn’t a massive issue but again, we’ve now had two screw-ups regarding this hotly anticipated final album and it has caused a bit of a buzz in die-hard Megadeth circles. It all probably doesn’t mean much of anything in the end but it’s a semi-interesting side note of this press push into this farewell cycle.
And that pretty well does it for the new Megadeth news. It will be interesting to see how the farewell tour plays out, but the early focus will be on the final record and if it fits well within the Megadeth pantheon. Early returns are promising and we have something to look forward to just a hair into 2026.
A bit of a quick one today to pay futher tribute to Tomas Lindberg. Today’s song is a cut from At The Gates’ debut album The Red In The Sky Is Ours, released in 1992.
Windows is the album’s fifth song. Nothing was released as a single, this was the band’s very early days and everyone was running on shoestring budgets. Band members have retroactively lamented the album’s production due to those financial constraints and having a producer that was not familiar with heavy metal. While I do agree that production here does leave something to be desired, it’s an album I can still get through and enjoy. Many of the underground metal albums of the early 90’s did not have the best in sonic technology.
The music of Windows was composed by guitarist Anders Björler. The lyrics were penned by vocalist Tomas Lindberg and are, at their simplest, about someone going insane. There is possibly more to it, as the song might be a eulogy for Per Yngve Ohlin, aka Dead, the singer of black metal band Mayhem until his suicide in 1991. Dead’s suicide brought a ton of attention to Mayhem and many were on hand for the wild and infamous ride that the second wave of black metal would go on during the early 1990’s.
I do not know if Lindberg was singing about Dead here, the lyrics do indicate it could be so, but I can’t readily find any actual sources corroborating this. It has been a widespread rumor for years and perhaps there’s some long lost interview with Lindberg that confirms this theory. But for the purposes of this brief post I’ll have to leave it as a loose thread.
Windows is a very heavy, crushing track that fits its disturbing subject matter. The song became an early favorite of fans and endured as one of the band’s signature tracks, even after the career and genre-defining Slaughter Of The Soul was released in 1995. Windows does have placements on a few live sets both audio and video, and is also a live bonus track on the band’s 1994 album Terminal Spirit Disease.
While we wait rather sadly for the final At The Gates album to feature Tomas Lindberg, it is nice to go back to the beginning and hear At The Gates crushing it right out of the, uh, gate. From very humble beginnings, At The Gates shaped the blueprint for metal that would come for decades afterward.
This past weekend we received the gift of the new Spinal Tap movie – Spinal Tap II – The End Continues. Along with that we got the inevitable “soundtrack” or music album to accompany the film. I’ve already given my thoughts on the movie here, so today let’s go over the record.
Spinal Tap – The End Continues
Released September 11, 2025 via Interscope Records
This album is straightforward and doesn’t have a ton of background info to go over. The album was recorded by the band’s three principal actors – Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer. Guest and McKean are also the album’s producers along with CJ Vanston, who also plays keyboards for the group in the movie. Joining in on drums is Valerie Franco, the actress/drummer who portrays the band’s new drummer Didi Crockett in the movie. There are also a wide array of guests on this album, Phil X and Greg Bissonette are a few noteworthy ones beyond the mega-star headliners.
We’re about ready to dig into the album, but there is one oddity as it relates to streaming services. If you look this up on Spotify, you’ll get 12 tracks – 9 new songs and 3 re-recorded Spinal Tap classics with very distinguished guest musicians. This should also be true of other streaming services, well, except for one.
If you have Amazon Music, or if you purchase a physical copy of the album as I have, you will find one additional track – the band’s classic Big Bottom, with guest musicians Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. This does not appear on any other streaming service because Brooks has an exclusive deal with Amazon and is otherwise dead set against streaming music services. Since I do have it on record I will cover the widely-celebrated collab in this roundup.
Nigel’s Poem
This is a small bit from Nigel with sparse atmospheric keyboards behind it. As a song it is quite short, as a poem a minute might as well be an eternity as far as I’m concerned. This vaguely calls back to his spoken word intro to Stonehenge, but not really. I’m not sure what this is doing here. Grade: D+
Let’s Just Rock Again
This first proper song is a decent enough cut of old-school epic rock with the annoying sort of keyboard sound from Eurpoe’s The Final Countdown. The verses on this one have all three band members trading off vocals, it’s very slow and doesn’t always work. The chorus builds up in ok fashion. It’s not a horrible song but it isn’t all that great. Grade: C
(Listen To The) Flower People, featuring Elton John
We get are first guest shot here, with the legendary Elton John making his first of two appearances. Here the band tackles their first proper hit from the 1960’s as Spinal Tap, this jam is also in the film. It was a hilarious song back in the first film and it’s only made better with Elton John contributing to it. It will become quickly apparent that the entire value of this record is in these marquee guest appearances. Grade: A
Brighton Rock
A pretty nice classic rock track here. The lyrics are absolutely pointless but I guess the song needed something. Not a bad song overall though. Grade: C+
The Devil’s Just Not Getting Old
The music here is quite good. What I believe are Harry Shearer’s vocals are not. I could live with his super gruff vocal style, but this lyrical output is totally ham-fisted and not amusing. I honestly don’t know what the fuck this is. Grade: D-
Cups And Cakes, featuring Paul McCartney
Here is another early Tap classic, actually pre-Tap as the band were the Thamesmen at the time. This silly sweet track has the one and only Paul McCartney on it, Macca also jams this out with the band in the movie. It’s short and sweet and, while not the greatest song ever recorded, you can’t really fail with Macca joining in on your jam. Grade: B+
I Kissed A Girl
So I’m not gonna bother with even a surface level analysis here – this song sucks. End of. Grade: F
Angels
This doesn’t fit the movie or Spinal Tap’s style at all but it’s also a pretty decent song that sounds good and has something of a point so have a Cfor your trouble.
Big Bottom, featuring Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood
In the film, a short clip of Garth and Trisha covering Big Bottom comes up. It’s pivotal to the story and is also absolutely hilarious, one of the best moments in the film. In keeping with the theme of the album, we get a full version with the couple as welcome guests.
Garth and Trisha completely handle the vocals here, they trade off lines and Trisha’s subtle twists to reflect the gender ramifications of her singing certain parts are hilarious. The pair are also the focus of the song as the music does seem to sit in the background a bit more than in the original version. But what is widely hailed as the best Spinal Tap song is handled very well here to accommodate two A-list guests and everything comes off in great fashion. Again, you must either have a physical copy of the album or Amazon Music to have access to this song. Grade: A
Judge And Jury
This one comes in with an R&B style jam, or at least it’s in that vein. It’s pretty awful but it does sound clear and better executed than some of the other stuff on the album. It is further evidence that the group had no real creative direction when putting this record together and were just throwing shit at the wall. The biggest problem with throwing shit at the wall is that it’s shit. Grade: D+
Rockin’ In The Urn
Holy shit, we actually get to a new song that has a bit part in the movie and has some semblance of a point to it. This is handled by Derek Smalls/Harry Shearer as it was a proposed solo tune of his. Harry’s vocals are the weak point of the song, the music itself is honestly quite good. This is about the only glimpse of the old classic Spinal Tap that could crank out surprisingly good songs. The verses here are too slow for my tastes but the song is pretty decent overall. Grade: C+
Blood To Let
This album is a slog to get through but it’s oddly picking up steam in its final moments. This is an upbeat rocker with some keyboard and horn accents and is honestly a pretty good track. It’s probably the most well-formed of any of the new original songs and doesn’t really suffer at any point in the song. On most any other rock album this would be a passable secondary track, but on this bomb of an album it’s a highlight. Grade: B
Stonehenge, featuring Elton John
We close things out with Elton joining in on the band’s epic power metal-ish song. The track was pivotal to the first film and is integral to the new film’s climax as well. This new version does have some differences to the original but is generally faithful in execution. This always was one of the better Spinal Tap songs and it’s only enhanced with the presence of the great Elton John. Grade: A
The End Continues is a soundtrack album, though beyond the guest shots and the one original song that gets a bit of play, I’m not sure what film this album is soundtracking. It’s very odd that another Derek Smalls original that gets featured in the beginning of the film wasn’t recorded for this. This album has a few highlights with the mega-star guests and then has maybe one song that’s possibly worthy of any future listens. The rest of the album is very throwaway and holds no replay value of any sort. Even the few songs that do come together as decent tracks really don’t offer a reason to be revisited.
Spinal Tap was able to compose a shockingly good soundtrack for their first film, and then in 1992 they gave up an original album Break Like The Wind that had the excellent single The Majesty Of Rock on it. The band reconvened in 2009 for a collection of re-recordings Back From The Dead that didn’t offer up a ton of new stuff but was very good sounding. But here in 2025, with what is likely the final Spinal Tap musical release, the band hacked up a hairball. The record did chart very modestly in the UK and Scotland, but beyond that and the excellent guest appearances on well-known Tap songs, this album is dire and honestly better left forgotten.
Album Grade: D
It is a shame that we didn’t get something more with this album. The movie was worth the time and it’s been nice to see Spinal Tap get one more push in the limelight. But this time they brought an album that sadly doesn’t pass muster. I can certainly forgive this and move past it, there is plenty enough in the Spinal Tap lexicon for me to enjoy. But it would have been nice to have a little more something to what is most likely the group’s musical swansong.
Today’s news is a tragic update to revelations we were privy to last month, when At The Gates announced they were preparing a new album and that singer Tomas Lindberg had a rare form of cancer. Sadly, that cancer has claimed Tomas’ life. Tomas was 52 years old.
Lindberg was born in Gothenburg, Sweden in October 1972. He would get started in music in the late 1980’s and joined up with the band Grotesque. A bit later Grotesque disbanded and Lindberg teamed up with several others to form At The Gates. From 1992 through 1995, At The Gates released four albums and became one of the beacons of melodic death metal, a movement largely centered on the Gothenburg area. Their fourth album Slaughter Of The Soul is hailed as one of the best albums of the 1990’s and was a massively influential album on heavy metal from the 2000’s, especially death metal and metalcore.
At The Gates unexpectedly broke up in 1996. After this, Lindberg spent the next decade-plus fronting a wide range of bands. He would join up with Disfear, The Crown, Nightrage, LockUp and many others. He also formed his own band The Great Deceiver, showcasing a unique blend of death metal and other styles. And he provided guest vocals to a dizzying array of bands all over the metal spectrum.
In 2008, At The Gates reunited for a series of tours. The band did not expand much upon the touring for several years, but then in 2014 they became a fully active band again and offered up At War With Reality, their first album in 19 years. At The Gates toured regularly and released two more albums in 2018 and 2021.
The information provided in Lindberg and At The Gates’ statement last month outlines the final few years of Lindberg’s life. In 2023 he was diagnosed with a rare form of throat and mouth cancer, which required major surgery. In early 2025 some remnants of the cancer were found, requiring very sensitive treatment that left Lindberg isolated. While we don’t have any further details regarding that, Lindberg died on or around September 16th.
Lindberg’s death has hit the metal community hard. At The Gates are revered as one of the of pioneering forces of the heavy metal that came about in the 2000’s and basically saved the genre from the extinction that almost occurred during the late 1990’s. Lindberg was well-respected among metal fans and artists, as evidenced by his miles-long list of guest contributions and the wave of tributes that have flowed in since the news of his death.
For me, At The Gates has long been one of my favorite bands. I was entirely taken with the concept of melodic death metal and have been on board for over 30 years since I first heard them. Slaughter Of The Soul is one of my favorite albums of all-time and the entire discography is one I go back to with frequency. It took me forever to see At The Gates live, which finally happened in 2018. Seeing them live essentially crossed off the final name on my “concert bucket list.”
Tomas Lindberg’s death will be felt as we go forward, especially given the news that At The Gates do have one final album with his vocals nearly ready for release. Condolences to Tomas’ family, friends, bandmates and fans worldwide.
The Crooked Wanderer 