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Exclusive: Nightrage Chief Reflects on Deceased Friend Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates: ‘I Still Have Him in My Heart’

Posted in Exclusives, In Memorium, Interviews with tags Anders Friden, At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity, Exhumation, In Flames, Marios Iliopoulos, melodic death metal, Mikael Stanne, Nightrage, Tomas Lindberg on 06/01/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Nine months after his shockingly sudden death, tears are still being shed for Tomas Lindberg, frontman of massively influential Swedish metal band At the Gates. One of the most well-read, warmhearted and respected musicians in melodic death metal – regardless of country – his skills remain unparalleled and might not be bested for quite some time. In the months subsequent to his passing, metal icons who – like Lindberg – were instrumental in giving birth to MDM in Scandinavian have publicly professed their sadness over his loss.

The latest member of MDM royalty to join the chorus and sing the praises of Lindberg is Greece’s greatest contribution to melodic death metal: Marios Iliopoulos. He helped develop the subgenre during his nine years playing lead guitar for Exhumation, then developed even more acclaim for his subsequent band Nightrage, which he co-founded with Gus G of Firewind in the same year that Exhumation split: 2000.

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10 Best Swedish Heavy Bands Ever, According to Native Sons Prime Creation

Posted in Interviews, Lists, Videos with tags Arch Enemy, At the Gates, Candlemass, Evergrey, In Flames, Meshuggah, Opeth, Prime Creation, Yngwie Malmsteen on 06/01/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

When we rolled out our list of the top 20 melodic death metal bands from Sweden in mid-December, little did we know that had opened up a Pandora’s Box that released a “spirited” debate among fans of heavy music from Scandinavia. That led us to release a “10 Best Finnish Melodeth Bands Ever” rundown several months later. But around the same time, we interviewed red-hot Finnish hard-rockers the Feral Kids, and they gave us their own list of the best metal bands that Finland has ever produced.

It was at that point that we came to our senses: top 10 lists are all the rage these days, and that fine and dandy – but the people putting together those lists should be the ultimate authorities on what they’re ranking. Ergo, we have reached out to bands from foreign lands to learn from them which musical acts from their home countries really belong on GOAT lists.

Today, Swedish progressive power-metal band Prime Creation pipe up with what they consider to be the best heavy bands that originated from their homeland, with comments from drummer Kim Arnell. While many of the selections on their list overlap with the groups we named as our favorite Swedish melodeth acts, Prime Creation’s list contains a few bands that belong to a different subgenre – and one that isn’t even considered to be a metal band (hint: Their biggest song was also the favorite tune of Gob Bluth in Arrested Development.)

1. In Flames

They have their own style and act as a bridge between death metal and heavy metal. Irresistible growls, unforgettable songs – and they make 60,000 people jump up and down at the same time.

2. Candlemass

Masters of doom. Unique sound. So dark and heavy. Nightfall is one of my favorite records of all time.

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Bad Penny’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2025

Posted in Album Reviews, Lists, Reviews with tags At the Gates, Brokedowns, Dark Tranquillity, Death Pose, In Flames, Indecline, Nightrage, Psychic Pigs, Softcult, the Jesus Lizard on 01/13/2026 by Kurt Orzeck

Dark Tranquillity (with chief Mikael Stanne in the center)

The title of this post tells it all. But some of the bands on “The Bad Penny’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories of 2025” might surprise you.

1. The 20 Best Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal Bands of All Time

2. On Tyranny: An Epic Conversation With Anarchist Art Collective and Cursive Collaborators INDECLINE About Fascism And How You Can Fight It

3. Friends of The Bad Penny Share Their Top 10 Lists of 2025 Best Albums

4. On Tyranny: Nightrage Guitarist Scolds Complicit Public for ‘Looking the Other Way’ as Democracy Dies

5. Pet Sounds #76: Cat Lovers Psychic Pigs Named Their Band as a Derogatory Slur Jabbing the Police

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The 20 Best Scandinavian Melodic Death Metal Bands of All Time

Posted in Lists, Videos with tags Amon Amarth, Amorphis, At the Gates, Children of Bodom, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames, In Mourning, Insomnium, Kalmah, Orbit Culture on 12/13/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Disagree if you dare.

Napalm Death Bassist Shane Embury Lovingly Reminisces About At the Gates’ Tomas Lindberg

Posted in Interviews with tags At the Gates, Napalm Death, Shane Embury, Tomas Lindberg on 11/19/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Among the long list of musicians who sadly passed away this year, one in particular who has not received as widespread a tribute as he deserved is At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg. Kind-hearted, philosophical and unparalleled in his vocal strength, one of the men behind perhaps the most influential melodic death-metal record of all time – Slaughter of the Soul – is sorely missed by those who knew him, had the good fortune of speaking with him or were even lucky enough to shake his hand. (We can attest to that fact, having interviewed Lindberg in July 2024.)

The Bad Penny recently brought you reflections on Lindberg’s life, friendship to his peers and towering importance in the metal community from Moonspell vocalist Fernando Riberio, and ex-Amon Amarth drummer and current Fimbul Winter lead guitarist Fredrik Andersson. Today we bring you another loving tribute to Gothenburg, Sweden’s fallen hero courtesy of Shame Embury, bassist for Napalm Death and mastermind of his own project Dark Sky Burial. (Expect to hear more about the latter band ’round these parts in the near future).

Here is what Embury told The Bad Penny about Lindberg in an interview conducted yesterday:

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Damn You, Ozzy Osbourne, for Preventing Us From Fully Mourning At the Gates Frontman Tomas Lindberg When He Too Died

Posted in Essays, News, Sound Off with tags At the Gates, Black Sabbath, Fimbul Winter, Ozzy Osbourne, Tomas Lindberg on 10/26/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

It’s a crisp, autumn afternoon in a quasi-rural area in America’s Pacific Northwest, and something feels off. No, it’s not that we were apparently, miraculously spared from the apocalyptic fires and resulting ash that typically choke us out for weeks practically every year as a result of climate change. Nor is it that Trump and his MAGA minions are tying up the remaining ends that will cement America’s transition from a democracy into a country ruled by a king (and, if we’re being generous, equally megalomaniacal and sadistic billionaire oligarchs).

Rather, what’s stuck in this writer’s craw today is the gaping maw – expected in the mainstream, because Ozzy was more tabloid fodder than musician in his twilight years – but shameful in the metal world, where former social studies teacher Lindberg’s impact on underground metal was if not as seismic than still immeasurable than Osbourne’s role in bringing metal to the masses. Needless to say, the deaths of each metal vocalist powerhouse was saddening and unsettling, but it bears noting that they epitomized different factions of the music genre that – attendance size aside – are standing, more or less, on equal ground.

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Exclusive: Moonspell Vocalist Salutes Departed Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates, Says They Shared ‘Wild Nights’ Together

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews with tags At the Gates, Fernando Ribeiro, melodeth, melodic death metal, Moonspell, Scandinavian metal, Tomas Lindberg on 10/23/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Many of us are still trying to cope with the sudden loss of Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg, arguably the best vocalist and lyricist in Scandinavian melodic death metal, last month. At the Gates, the band he led, helped pioneer one of metal’s best subgenres, also known as melodeth. Lindberg family, friends, bandmates, fans and anyone who reveres At the Gates are still processing and trying to make sense of his passing at age 52 due to a rare type of cancer called Adenoid cystic carcinoma.

Last week, Fredrik Andersson — who played drums for another legendary melodic death metal band, Amon Amarth, from 1997 to 2015 — expressed his admiration for Lindberg and shared an Irish wake laugh during an interview with The Bad Penny earlier this month.

On Thursday, we had the honor of finally interviewing Moonspell vocalist Fernando Ribeiro, one of the few melodeth vocalists that The Bad Penny had never interviewed before.

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Exclusive: Ex-Amon Amarth Drummer Pays Tribute to At the Gates’ Tomas Lindberg With a Riotous Recollection

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews with tags Amon Amarth, At the Gates, Fimbul Winter, Fredrik Andersson, Tomas Lindberg on 10/17/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“[At the Gates] are awesome human beings, and Tompa was the fucking unicorn.”

—

But while people continue to shed tears over the loss of Lindberg, another iconic member of Scandinavian melodeth tried to help those still grieving by exclusively providing The Bad Penny with a downright hilarious story that could only happen in the world of heavy metal. Fredrik Andersson — who played drums for another legendary melodic death metal band, Amon Amarth, from 1997 to 2015 —simultaneously expressed his admiration for Lindberg and shared an Irish wake laugh during an interview this writer conducted earlier this month.

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Best Albums of 2021: Gojira, Dying Wish, At the Gates, Der Weg Einer Freiheit

Posted in Lists with tags Amenra, At the Gates, Carcass, Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Dying Wish, Gojira, Harakiri for the Sky, Malist, So Hideous, Violet Cold on 12/31/2021 by Kurt Orzeck

1. Gojira – Fortitude (Roadrunner)
2. Dying Wish – Fragments of a Bitter Memory (SharpTone)
3. At the Gates – Nightmare of Being (Century Media)
4. Der Weg Einer Freiheit – Noktvrn (Season of Mist)
5. Harakiri for the Sky – Maere (AOP)
6. So Hideous – None but a Pure Heart Can Sing (Silent Pendulum)
7. Amenra – De Doom (Relapse)
8. Carcass – Torn Arteries (Nuclear Blast)
9. Malist – Karst Relict (Northern Silence)
10. Violet Cold – Empire of Love (La Petite Mort Prod.)