At The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul

Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg was only 52 when he died. Shockingly young not only to have been deprived of more life, but to have had such breadth and depth in a career already: he was only 17 when Grotesque recorded their Incantation EP, and by the time At The Gates went into the studio for The Red In The Sky Is Ours, he had barely turned 19. From the very beginning of his adult life he plunged into a stream of music, and in his prolific decades he amassed an oeuvre to rival any across metal and punk. Tompa had a voice that was instantly recognizable, not too common a claim in the world of harsh vocalists: his high, gravelly shriek cut through the dense, burning vibrations of At The Gates's guitar team with enviable power and venom, but there was passion in his voice, and hurt, too, an emotional palette that allowed him to explore a deep catalogue of poetic and philosophical subjects in his lyrics.

In their time together, At The Gates never released an unworthy album, and his work with Disfear, Skitsystem, The Great Deceiver, Nightrage, The Lurking Fear, Lock Up, and so many others leaves an enormous body of music to be loved and discovered. As a musician, as one of the most iconic extreme metal vocalists, Tompa touched many lives, as the tributes from friends and fans will attest, but he did so in other ways as well: by day he was an educator, teaching social studies to middle and high school students. He was thoughtful and well-read, as could be learned from both the work he did and the way he talked about it, both on stage and in the classroom. He leaves behind a family and many companions.

Slaughter Of The Soul is the obvious choice of album to remember him by, so I would have been inclined to choose something else - The Red In The Sky Is Ours presents itself as another classic, and if you ask me they're all great, and he had so many other bands as well - but this album very soon turns 30, and so for that reason as well it seems most fitting. This is a pillar of heavy music: "GO!" is when death metal changed. And even if it's the obvious choice, that's only because it's such a fantastic album.

RIP Tompa. Thanks for all the music.