At the Gates' Tomas Lindberg Talks Saving Extreme Metal and Doing It from the Heart

After the Floridian death metal explosion of the late 80s and early 90s, and before the New Wave of American Heavy Metal would devolve into a shit-core mockery of itself, there was At The Gates. Hailed by some as the saviors of metal at a vulnerable time for the genre, the progenitors of the Gothenburg sound released their breakout album, Terminal Spirit Disease, in 1993. The subsequent tour tightened the machine and brought the band back to the studio to record what Decibel has called “the most influential death metal album of the next decade,” 1995’s Slaughter of the Soul.

That album was the last the band would make together until 2014’s At War With Reality. While he kept plenty busy fronting numerous other notable projects like Disfear and Lock Up during At the Gates' absence, singer Tomas Lindberg’s humility (he’s a social studies teacher by day) was present as ever when I called to talk about the band’s new mini-documentary and upcoming tour with Decapitated and The Haunted.

Noisey: You had a mini-documentary come out with BangerTV in December and you’re going on tour next month. I noticed you said in the documentary you don’t want be one of those bands that goes out four times on the same record—so it this leading up to a new album this year, or is this a continuation of the momentum you had with At War With Reality?
Tomas Lindberg: Well, it’s really been momentum, as you say, so we really want to concentrate on where we are in the moment. I think that’s a good way for a band to survive, not to already feel pressure about doing a new record. As you know, it took 19 years to come back with this one. Because it’s been so embraced by not only media and sales-wise, but also by fans at the shows who really get into the new songs, we just really want to feel this moment and be here and enjoy it, and think about a new record when we lose the flow, so to say. We’ve got stuff booked all the way up to the end of August right now. And we’ll see what happens when we come to the point where we feel we have toured this record through, and then start thinking about a new album or not, and maybe take a break before then so we can write in relaxation. I think that’s our plan at least—right now, we take it day by day. So right now, we’re just psyched about coming to the states again.

I’m in New York and I noticed there aren’t any close dates on the current tour—are you planning a second leg?
This is actually the second leg that we’ve been planning for a long time, it just took a while to put together a package that we really wanted to have. The first leg was the Decibel tour that took place last March and April—you could basically see this as the Southern continuation of that tour. We really want to hit the markets we left out last time. Of course I know the U.S. is a really big country and people are going to argue we’re still missing their cities, but for a European band, it’s not as easy as it was to tour America anymore. We’re happy to be able to get these tours together and with such a great package.

So obviously you’ve stayed very active in the extreme metal scene since At The Gates initially broke up, but now you’re playing with this band again to people who weren’t even born when your first record came out, what’s the biggest difference you’re noticing with the crowds at your shows?
There’s a lot of differences actually—age, gender, and also musical styles. There are more hardcore kids at the show, there’s more women, there’s more younger kids—we get a good mix. We’ve got the old metalheads, the dudes. We also try to put together a package that draws a bit of different people together so we can play to our old fans, our new fans, and the support bands can also play for different crowds that they wouldn’t usually play to. I think that the extreme music scene all in all has become more receptive to eclectic styles; there’s more acceptance for music styles together. Before you were a metalhead or a punk, but now it doesn’t really matter.

Yeah, it seems more diverse overall—not just a bunch of whites dudes anymore!
Yeah! It gets to a different atmosphere doing the shows, for real. You can definitely feel it—there are a lot more different emotions in the room. In the 90s, it was more just aggression and testosterone. I feel like now every show, you kind of conduct the mood of the room with every song. It’s very much more rewarding, but it’s also a bigger challenge to cater to all the different styles of people who come to the show. It’s a great thing for sure.

In the new documentary, you discuss how the lyrics on Slaughter of the Soul were a 20-year-old trying to figure out the world. A lot of the lyrics on At War with Reality read like poetry—are you still writing from an existentialist place, or are you looking outward for inspiration these days?
It’s the same idea that still drives us lyrically, but now it’s more grounded. We’re older, not as much “searchers” but you know, it’s more grounded in theory and maybe also in literature. We always try to paint with the same colors in way because people should still feel that it’s the same band. I think there’s so much more emotion in our music, so the lyrics have to portray that—there’s desperation, there’s hope, maybe even bitterness. There are all these different emotions that I want to get across, but the album is more of a concept record based on literature. I don’t want to call it "smarter," but maybe more "intellectual" now than before, when it was maybe more anger.

Speaking of emotions, how does it feel to be called “the band that saved extreme metal” when there was that downturn in the mid 90s? That seems like a lot of pressure.
Yeah, if you ‘re the kind of person or band that thinks of yourself in third person, that might be a problem. If you’re more humble and know who you are, I don’t think it’s such a big problem. I still see myself more as a music fan than a musician, really. I think I have a pretty big clue of our position in the extreme music scene, but there’s so many other bands that I feel deserve that kind of accolade more than us. I’m just happy that we get to play still, and that there’s still interest, and that we can be ourselves and write the music that we want to do without having to cater to some record company. We’re very fortunate in that position, and in that way, it’s stood with that reputation. But you have to not let it get to your head.

Humility seems to be a common theme among the Swedes I’ve interviewed—is that a cultural approach to your life and fame?
Definitely, definitely! Boasting is not very Swedish. It’s also the same when, like, Swedish people say what we really think as well you know, about other people’s projects or music or whatever. It’s really so un-American, where we have to go “What do you they really think about the new record?!”

So how do you really feel about metal currently?
I would say that extreme music in general, there’s just so many subgenres now and it’s hard to see—is it metal? Is it hardcore? I would almost say that it’s better than ever, because of the Internet and new recording techniques. Bands, artists—it’s easier to get their stuff out there, which kind of makes them not dependent on labels or what the media thinks. So there’s more room to be yourself and not really have to polish your sound to get a record deal. Therefore we get a lot of diversity and more extreme stuff going on. I think there are more people into extreme music now than ever. There’s also this big diversity, which makes it interesting so it won’t stagnate.

So with the turmoil over the deaths of legends like Lemmy and David Bowie still rocking the music world, has that affected how you want to approach the band in the future? Is there a certain legacy you’d like to leave for future generations?
The stuff that I’ve already done and been fortunate enough to do is more than enough in one way—I’m so happy with all the stuff I’ve been able to do. But at the same time, when you’re met with the news of such icons passing away, it really strengthens the belief that you really have to do all you can and live now, really embrace it. Not say no to stuff, not be frightened of pressure. Look at David Bowie—he was around forever for a lot of different periods and he always had this artistic integrity. I think that’s also the most important thing to have that integrity as part of everything you do. Do it from the heart—if you do that, and always try, I think you’re in a good starting position.

AT THE GATES, DECAPITATED, THE HAUNTED, HARMS WAY

02/09/2016 Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution Live
02/10/2016 Orlando, FL @ House of Blues*
02/11/2016 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
02/13/2015 Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey
02/14/2016 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
02/16/2015 Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theatre
02/17/2015 Phoenix, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
02/18/2016 Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues
02/19/2016 San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
02/20/2016 Pomona, CA @ The Glasshouse
02/21/2016 San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom

* AT THE GATES and HARMS WAY only

AT THE GATES - live 2016:

02/04 - 02/08/2016 @ 70,000 Tons Of Metal
03.12.2016 Gothenburg (Sweden) - Metaltown Indoors Festival 03.25.2016 Johannesburg (South Africa) - Witchfest

07.24-30.2016 Tolmin (Slovenia) - MetalDays Festival

08.11.2016 Villena (Spain) - Leyendas del Rock Festival

08.12-13.2016 Schlotheim (Germany) @ Party San Open Air

08.17-20.2016 Dinkelsbühl (Germany) - Summer Breeze Open Air

Kelsey Zimmerman is saving extreme metal on Twitter.