Exclusive video premiere: WITHERING SURFACE - “Under A Serpent Sun”
a tribute to At The Gates' Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg
28-11-2025
Danish melodeath band WITHERING SURFACE decided to record a live cover version as a tribute to At The Gates‘ Tomas “Tompa” Lindberg, who passed away on the 16th of October. Tompa and At The Gates were a huge inspiration for Withering Surface. “Under A Serpent Sun” is s song Withering Surface performed live many times during the late 90s and early 2000s, so recording it felt natural and like coming home.
Watch “Under A Serpent Sun” below.
“Back in the day, when we formed Withering Surface, I discovered At The Gates”, says Allan Tvedebrink, founding member, composer and guitarist in Withering Surface. “One year later, they released “Slaughter Of The Soul”, which to this day is still one of my top three albums of all time. The others differ from time to time, but “Slaughter of the Soul” remains. It’s timeless and it’s perfect… So is the legacy of At The Gates. They have had a massive influence on me, our band and on the entire genre throughout the years. It was obvious to us that we should cover “Under a Serpent Sun” when we played live in the nineties and it was obvious for us to revisit it and to record a live version as a tribute to Tomas Lindberg who tragically passed away on Tuesday, October 16th. We will forever miss Tompa and his awesome being and we will forever have his music and inspiration with us going forward”.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jakob Møller Gundel. October 2025. This official video captures de recording session.
Watch the previously released third single and official video “The Misery I Keep” from their album “Exit Plan”, on Mighty Musi below.
Also watch the previously released “Denial Denial Denial”, “Finish What You Started” and “Where Dreamers Die” below.
Allan Tvedebrink says “Right after we dropped “Meet Your Maker” all our gigs and plans were scrapped because of the pandemic and it obviously created a huge void for us. I’m very proud of that album, but when it was finished, I felt that we could do better and, because of the wide open schedule, I immediately started working on “Exit Plan”. The new material is focused on a much more direct and intense approach and it is by far the strongest compilation of songs we have ever done to represent an album. In the process of creating “Exit Plan” we had lots of set backs. Deciding to let our new drummer go after we recorded the drums, having a new guitarist on board and losing our keyboard player took some extra time, but also made us re-visit the material and get everything right. The challenges and the decisions made in the process definitely made the album way better”.
Soren Andersen: “I was initially hired as the mixing engineer but I have ended up becoming a superfan. This is how I feel about Withering Surface and their forthcoming album “Exit Plan”. They are by far the most extreme band I have ever worked with. Musically I have no other bands to compare them with besides Faith No More and Soilwork. After a few mixes I totally fell in love with the sound of the band, and never before have I challenged myself as much as I have working upon this album. Combining brutal riffs, a powerhouse rhythm section, screaming vocals, melodic solos and imaginative songwriting, this is all I could ever ask for in a metal band”.
Singer Michael Hvolgaard Andersen adds: “Vocal wise I wanted to go back to the roots of Withering Surface. Capturing some of the spirit from the frustrated 19-year old me. Songs on the new album like “Where Dreamers Die” and “You Hurt This Child” show that. I was not sure I still had that throat capacity and aggression in me but proved myself wrong. I always had the desire to make catchy sing-a-long choruses. In the past they were on songs like “Dancing With Faries” and “Joyless Journey”. On “Exit Plan” this desire is brought to life on “Denial Denial Denial”, “Finish What You Started” and “I Finally Lost (All Faith In Humanity)”. Since the formation of Withering Surface, Allan’s songwriting felt natural for me to make vocal lines and melodies on and on “Exit Plan” I truly believe he delivered his strongest material to date which by the end of the day is the reason that made my voice sound strong and have me deliver that little extra”.
The album has been mixed and mastered by Soren Andersen / Medley Studio (Glenn Hughes, Thundermother) and is by far the most extreme album Soren ever worked with.
Stream the single AT THIS LOCATION.
Lineup:
Allan Tvedebrink – guitars
Michael H. Andersen – vocals
Jesper Kvist – bass
Troels Lund-Sørensen – drums
Marco Angioni – guitars
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