Tomas Lindberg, also known as "Tompa" and "Goatspell", is a Swedish vocalist who has fronted many death metal bands, most notably At the Gates. He has been active as a musician and composer since the late 1980s. He also teaches social studies.
Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. Unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish bands were rooted in hardcore punk. Gothenburg has a large melodic death metal scene while Stockholm is known for its more raw death metal scene.
Necroticism – Descanting the Insalubrious is the third album by British extreme metal band Carcass. It was released on 30 October 1991 through Earache Records. This album is the first to feature guitarist Michael Amott and marked the first time Carcass had recorded as a four-piece. Many of the tracks describe economical ways to dispose of dead bodies. Necroticism continues the move towards a predominant death metal sound which was started in Symphonies of Sickness, featuring songs with longer sections and complex structures, more akin to the then-burgeoning technical death metal subgenre.
The Haunted is a Swedish heavy metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1996. The original members were Anders and Jonas Björler, Peter Dolving, Adrian Erlandsson and Patrik Jensen. Both of the Björler brothers and Erlandsson were members of the seminal melodic death metal band At the Gates, a pioneering force in the Swedish death metal scene.
At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg, formed in 1990. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal alongside In Flames and Dark Tranquillity. Prior to their first disbandment in 1996, At the Gates released four albums, ending with and including Slaughter of the Soul (1995), which has been seen as a landmark in the mid-1990s Swedish death metal scene as well as being a major inspiration for many metalcore bands. After reuniting for a one-off tour in 2008, the band reformed once again in 2011, and they have since released three more albums: At War with Reality (2014), To Drink from the Night Itself (2018) and The Nightmare of Being (2021).
The Jester Race is the second studio album by Swedish heavy metal band In Flames, released in February 1996. It is the first album to feature Anders Fridén as the band's vocalist, Björn Gelotte as the drummer, and Jester Head as the band's mascot.
Terminal Spirit Disease is the third album by Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates. It was released in 1994 and re-released in 2003 with bonus tracks. It is the first album to feature rhythm guitarist Martin Larsson who replaced Alf Svensson in 1993. The band originally had wanted to record an EP of new material, but their label had insisted on a full-length album. To compromise, the band added several live tracks to pad the overall length.
Melodic death metal is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal. The genre features the heaviness of death metal but with highly melodic or harmonized guitar riffs and solos, and often features high-pitched shrieked vocals alongside the low-pitched growls commonly featured in traditional death metal. Pioneered by the English heavy metal band Carcass with their 1993 album Heartwork, melodic death metal developed further in Sweden in the mid-1990s. The Swedish death metal scene did much to popularise the style, soon centering in the "Gothenburg metal" scene. At the Gates' Slaughter of the Soul, Dark Tranquillity's The Gallery, and In Flames' The Jester Race, all released in the mid-1990s, were highly influential albums in melodic death metal, with At the Gates and In Flames being the two most common influences on North American 2000s heavy metal bands. Many American heavy metal bands emulated At the Gates' sound, resulting in the usage of the phrase "At the Gates worship".
In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990 out of the Swedish death metal scene. Their lineup has changed several times, with vocalist Anders Fridén and guitarist Björn Gelotte being the only consistent members since 1995. In Flames helped pioneer melodic death metal along with fellow Swedish bands At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity. The band has sold over two million records worldwide.
Dissection was a Swedish extreme metal band from Strömstad, formed in 1989 by guitarist, vocalist and main songwriter Jon Nödtveidt and bassist Peter Palmdahl. Despite a number of lineup changes, Dissection released The Somberlain in 1993 and Storm of the Light's Bane in 1995, before splitting up in 1997 due to Nödtveidt's imprisonment for complicity in the murder of Josef Meddour.
Andy LaRocque is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of the heavy metal band King Diamond since 1985.
Adrian Paul Erlandsson is a Swedish heavy metal drummer who is a member of At the Gates, the Haunted, and Nemhain (2006–present).
Anders Björler is a Swedish musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the metal bands The Haunted and At the Gates, alongside his bass-playing twin brother Jonas Björler.
Suicidal Final Art is a 2001 compilation album by Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates. The name is taken from a line in the title track of the Slaughter of the Soul album.
With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness is the second studio album by the Swedish death metal band At the Gates. It was re-released in 1993 with The Red in the Sky Is Ours and again in 2003 with bonus tracks. This would be the last album with guitarist Alf Svensson who left the band after its release.
The Somberlain is the debut studio album by Swedish black metal band Dissection, released on 3 December 1993 by No Fashion Records. It went on to become a highly influential release in both black metal and melodic death metal circles.
The Flames of the End is a three-disc DVD set from Swedish metal band At the Gates. Its main feature is a 2-hour+ documentary detailing the history of the band and their successful reunion tour, directed by guitarist and founding member Anders Bjorler. The set also includes their set from Wacken Open Air 2008 on the second disc, and a collection of songs from various venues, music videos and deleted scenes from the documentary on the third. The set is packaged in a digipak with a 40-page booklet. Earache Records has also made available a limited-edition set including an LP, CD, shirt, belt buckle, keyring, patch and 4 plectrums. Bjorler has described the DVD as "a fine last document for the band".
Purgatory Unleashed – Live at Wacken is a live album by Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates. It was released on 22 March 2010 via Earache Records.
Unseen is the seventh studio album by Swedish metal band the Haunted, released on 16 March 2011. The album begins to experiment with a more rock-influenced alternative metal sound mixed with their usual groove metal and melodic death metal sound.
At War with Reality is the fifth studio album and major label debut by Swedish melodic death metal band At the Gates, released on 28 October 2014. It is the band's first album since Slaughter of the Soul (1995), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in their career. It is a concept album based on the literary genre of magic realism.
