VOIVOD Announces October 2026 U.S. Tour With BAT

Canada's cosmic metal visionaries VOIVOD will embark on a 10-city U.S tour in October. Support on the trek, which will kick off on October 8 in Youngstown, Ohio, will come from BAT, the Richmond, Virginia metal-punk trio consisting of Ryan Waste, Nick Poulos and Chris Marshall.

Tour dates:

Oct. 08 - Youngstown, OH @ Westside Bowl
Oct. 09 - Liverpool, NY @ Sharkey's Banquets & Events
Oct. 10 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Brooklyn Monarch
Oct. 11 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Oct. 12 - Richmond, VA @ Cobra Cabana
Oct. 14 - Orlando, FL @ The Abbey
Oct. 15 - Atlanta, GA @ 529 EAV
Oct. 16 - Raleigh, NC @ Chapel of Bones
Oct. 17 - Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
Oct. 18 - Newport, KY @ The Southgate House Revival

VOIVOD frontman Denis "Snake" Bélanger is sitting out the band's European tour this summer in order to "attend to a family matter". He is being temporarily replaced by former VOIVOD and current E-FORCE vocalist/bassist Eric Forrest.

Forrest played his first show of VOIVOD's summer 2026 tour on July 10 at the Slaughter Club in Paderno Dugnano, a town in the province of Milan, in the Lombardy region of Italy.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Snake's partner Christine McDonald was battling stage four colorectal cancer. In an effort to assist with mounting medical and related expenses, a GoFundMe campaign had been launched to help support her during this difficult time.

This past February, Forrest went public with his prostate cancer battle. Eric, who lives in Toulouse, France, wrote at the time that he was diagnosed with stage three prostate cancer in 2024 after registering a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of 23.

VOIVOD's "Symphonique" live album, a special collaboration with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra (Orchestre Symphonique De Québec),was released on June 5, 2026 via Century Media Records. "Symphonique", which functions like an epic piece of cinema, showcases VOIVOD's pioneering futuristic metal with the strains of a symphony orchestra, and features a carefully curated VOIVOD best-of setlist composed of 12 songs across 73 minutes, recorded live on June 4, 2025, at the Grand Théâtre in Québec City, Canada.

VOIVOD previously played two shows with the Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal on January 29, 2025 and January 30, 2025 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

VOIVOD is a Canadian heavy metal band from Jonquière, Québec. Their musical style has changed several times since the band's origin in the early 1980s. Starting out as a speed metal band, VOIVOD have added a mix of progressive metal and thrash metal to create their own unique metal style, and are credited as one of the "big four" Canadian thrash metal bands, along with SACRIFICE, RAZOR and ANNIHILATOR. They are considered by many as one of the most influential metal bands from the '80s, influencing and gaining praise from multiple bands and across numerous genres.

VOIVOD found mainstream success in the late 1980s with their fifth studio album, "Nothingface" (1989),which is the band's only album to enter The Billboard 200 chart, peaking at number 114.

VOIVOD's long-awaited official documentary, "We Are Connected", received its world premiere on July 29, 2024 at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec. Canada.

"We Are Connected" dives deep into the 40-plus-year legacy of one of the most original and influential metal bands in history. From their explosive beginnings in Jonquière to their groundbreaking global journey, VOIVOD's story is one of unparalleled creativity, resilience, and evolution. The film covers VOIVOD's history from unlikely origins in northern Québec at the height of the Cold War to underground success to sharing tours and stages with IRON MAIDEN, RUSH and METALLICA. Included in the documentary are high and lows throughout those 40 years, from major-label support and Billboard recognition to seismic lineup changes and an event many critics claimed to be the end of VOIVOD: the death of co-founding guitarist and composer Dennis "Piggy" D'Amour.

Directed by Felipe Belalcazar and produced with full access to the band's archives, this film features exclusive insights and appearances by metal icons like Tobias Forge (GHOST),Mikael Åkerfeldt (OPETH),Jason Newsted (METALLICA),Zach Blair (RISE AGAINST, GWAR),Tom G. Warrior (CELTIC FROST, TRIPTYKON) and Ivan Doroschuk (MEN WITHOUT HATS),among many others.

VOIVOD's official biography, "Always Moving - The Strange Multiverse Of Voivod", came out last November. The book celebrates the extraordinary 40-plus-year career of Canada's cosmic metal visionaries VOIVOD. Author Jeff Wagner draws from exclusive interviews with band members, managers, producers, record label reps, family, peers, and musicians profoundly shaped by VOIVOD's ever-mutating sound to tell their full, fascinating story.

"Always Moving: The Strange Multiverse Of Voivod" is presented as a monumental oral history woven with Wagner's narrative. "Always Moving" casts a bright arc light on every creative era — from the raw chaos of the early years to the tech-prog heights, through tragedy, reinvention, and ultimate triumph.

VOIVOD has been touring in support of its latest album, 2023's "Morgöth Tales", which was released via Century Media, The Orchard and Sony Music.

The band's 2022 release, "Synchro Anarchy", garnered significant acclaim, winning the 2023 Juno Award for "Best Hard Rock/Metal Album" in Canada.

Once more recorded and mixed by Francis Perron at RadicArt Studio, mastered by Maor Appelbaum and produced by VOIVOD, "Morgöth Tales" includes fresh studio re-recordings by the band's current lineup of nine especially selected, not-so-obvious picks from the band's hyper-classy and extremely diverse back catalogue (between 1984 and 2003) as well as a brand-new song and the album's title track, "Morgöth Tales".

Photo credit: Catherine Deslauriers