In a new interview with Finland’s Chaoszine, bassist Jonas Björler of Swedish melodic death metal pioneers AT THE GATES spoke about the band’s upcoming album, “The Ghost Of A Future Dead”, which will be released on April 24 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2021’s “The Nightmare of Being” marks a special tribute to founding AT THE GATES frontman Tomas Lindberg, who tragically passed away in September 2025.

Reflecting on the final months of Tomas‘s life, Jonas said: “It’s like with all the cancer diseases, it’s always a rollercoaster ride. It’s positive news and it’s bad news. And we got positive news every other week and we got negative news every other week. So it was up and down. So it’s really unsettling… The last month, from mid-August (2025) to mid-September (2025), the situation was really bad, because he had massive infections and stuff like that, so they couldn’t really treat it. So we kind of knew that it was going in the wrong direction, for sure. So, everybody in the band — except Adrian (Erlandsson, AT THE GATES drummer); he’s in U.K. — we went down to his hospital work and met him. But he was in a really, really bad shape. It was really tough.”

Lindberg was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare oral cancer, in December 2023, which led to a major surgery that removed a large portion of the roof of his mouth. He had also undergone radiation treatment and had been on a path to recovery, but then doctors found traces of the cancer in early 2025. In May 2025, an undisclosed “setback” placed Tomas in long-term care.

“We entered the studio and started recording the music (for ‘The Ghost Of A Future Dead’) when Tomas actually had his first surgery,” Jonas recalled to Chaoszine. “And he managed to sing all the vocal demos for all the songs. So that’s what we used for the album… He did good versions or good takes in a studio in Gothenburg before the surgery. So, that was done in, like, December of 2023 or January of 2024, and we entered the studio in February.”

Asked if “The Ghost Of A Future Dead” is a difficult album for him to listen to now, having lost Tomas less than six months ago, Jonas said: “No, because it’s kind of Tomas‘s legacy and stuff. So we all want it to get out now, I think, so people can hear it… I know Tomas was proud of it and wanted it to be released. So we just waited in case his situation would improve. So that’s why we waited. But we could have released it one year ago. It was fully mixed in 2024, in June, it was already done, everything. So it’s been there for one and a half years, all done… I heard (the songs) for so long now, (they are) feeling kind of old to me. But it’s gonna be nice to hear people’s reaction to it.”

Asked if Tomas was “super determined” to finish his vocal tracks for “The Ghost Of A Future Dead” before he underwent his surgery, Jonas said: “Yeah, yeah, of course. It was totally done. The only thing that wasn’t done when he got the terrible news, it was missing three or four songs that (weren’t) recorded yet. So he just went to the studio and did it before the surgery, because he knew that was a very invasive surgery; they took half the jaw away. So he knew he couldn’t sing or would have problems singing.”

Jonas went on to say that Tomas was “always positive” about his chances of beating the cancer. “And we all were,” he added. “That’s the only chance to survive it, I think, or get through it.”

Regarding what AT THE GATES fans can expect from “The Ghost Of A Future Dead”, Jonas said: “I mean, (guitarist) Anders (Björler, Jonas‘s brother) is back (in AT THE GATES), since three years. And I think if you like ‘At War With Reality’, you will like the new one, I think. There’s a mixture of ‘Slaughter Of The Soul’, ‘At War With Reality’ and some progressive elements of the last two. So that’s what you can expect, I think.”

Asked if he and his AT THE GATES bandmates had a vision of where they wanted to go musically with the new album, Jonas said: “Me and Anders just wrote half and half. We didn’t have any guidelines. We just wrote it, what we felt like. We usually don’t do that because it restricts you. So I don’t like to do that.”

As for the possibility of AT THE GATES doing shows to celebrate Tomas‘s life and legacy, Jonas said: “Yeah, we haven’t really discussed those things because we’re gonna release the album first and then we’ll see. Maybe some shows to celebrate him or something, but we are not sure about anything right now.”