VOIVOD Cancels October 2026 U.S. Tour Due To A 'Family Health Emergency'

Canada's cosmic metal visionaries VOIVOD have canceled their previously announced 10-city U.S tour in October. Support on the trek, which was scheduled to kick off on October 8 in Youngstown, Ohio, was supposed to come from BAT, the Richmond, Virginia metal-punk trio consisting of Ryan Waste, Nick Poulos and Chris Marshall.

Earlier today (Saturday, October 3),VOIVOD released the following message via social media: "Dear Fans, it is with heavy hearts that we must cancel the US tour dates with BAT due to family health emergency in the VOIVOD clan. We would like to say postponed and give you a new time period but VOIVOD can't commit to any dates right now.

"Tickets will be refunded at point of sale, we ask fans to wait a few days until the ticketing systems have been alerted.

"Thank you for your understanding and support."

Two months ago, it was announced that Carol Langevin, brother of VOIVOD drummer Michel "Away" Langevin, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 60.

A GoFundMe campaign was launched to "allow Carol to reduce the financial strain related to his time off work, travel, treatments, and the unexpected expenses caused by his illness."

VOIVOD shared the news of Carol's diagnosis, writing on social media: "This year has been a hard one for the VOIVOD family. At the start of the year, we learned that E-Force [vocalist/bassist Eric Forrest], who fronted the band in the 90s, has been fighting prostate cancer, and he is still out there on the road with us, filling in for Snake [Denis Bélanger, VOIVOD singer] with everything he has. Snake is home at the side of his partner Christine, who is bravely facing colorectal cancer. They are in our hearts every single day. And now cancer has struck our family once more. Carol Langevin, brother of our drummer Michel 'Away' Langevin, is fighting pancreatic cancer at 60. A GoFundMe has been set up to support Carol and his loved ones through treatment and the hard road ahead.

"If you can donate, every contribution counts, no matter the size. If you cannot, please share this post. It truly makes a difference.

"For more than 40 years, this community has shown us what solidarity means. Let's show Carol, and the whole family, what the Iron Gang can do.

"Thank you for your love and support."

VOIVOD guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour died in August 2005 in a Montreal hospital from complications of advanced colon cancer.

When D'Amour died more than two decades ago from cancer, it seemed VOIVOD was very much a memory. Then in 2008, the Canadian metal innovators surprised most by coming out of retirement to play the first Heavy MTL festival with a new-old lineup: original member Jean-Yves Thériault (a.k.a. Blacky) was back behind his blower bass and MARTYR's Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain was playing guitar.

At first what was assumed would only be a one-off soon grew to become a return to live action for the band. The next summer saw the band play almost every European metal fest and support DOWN on a cross-Canada tour and things just kept building from there. The metal world soon discovered that if there was one guitarist who could replace Piggy properly, it was Mongrain, who proved show after show that he was up for the job.

In July 2014, VOIVOD parted ways with Blacky and replaced him with Dominic "Rocky" Laroche.

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.