Written By Caine Blackthorn
HAVOK are loading up the thrash machine for a massive fall run across the United States, and they’re bringing one hell of a wrecking crew along for the ride.
The Colorado thrash veterans have announced the HAVOK 2026 U.S. tour with support from Hellripper, Slackjaw and Xoth, assembling a four-band package that stretches from old-school thrash into blackened speed metal and death metal.
The 26-date trek launches October 21 at Metro Music Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah and tears across the country before finishing November 20 with a hometown show for HAVOK at Denver’s Gothic Theatre.
But there’s another reason this particular tour deserves attention: it will mark Hellripper’s first-ever U.S. tour.
HAVOK 2026 U.S. Tour Brings Hellripper to America
For fans of blackened speed metal, that Hellripper billing alone makes this run something special.
The Scottish project led by James McBain has spent years building an international following with a particularly vicious cocktail of speed metal, thrash, black metal and Motörhead-grade velocity. Now American audiences are finally getting a proper opportunity to experience that attack on U.S. stages.
HAVOK themselves emphasized the significance of the occasion when announcing the tour, telling fans that Hellripper’s first American trek is something they won’t want to miss. And Hellripper isn’t arriving quietly.
Putting the Scottish blackened-speed-metal force between HAVOK and opening sets from Slackjaw and Xoth makes this less a conventional support package and more a traveling survey of several particularly hostile corners of modern metal. Bring earplugs. Actually, bring better earplugs.
HAVOK Enter a New Chapter With BLKIIBLK
The tour arrives during an important new chapter for HAVOK.
The Denver thrashers recently signed with BLKIIBLK, the heavy-music imprint of Frontiers Label Group, and introduced the partnership with the new single “Fifth Generation Warfare.”
HAVOK have spent nearly two decades carrying the torch for the modern American thrash revival, building their reputation on technical precision, political and social commentary, and the kind of live energy that suggests standing still is an administrative error.
Their catalog, stretching from 2009 debut Burn through albums including Time Is Up, Unnatural Selection, Conformicide and 2020’s V, established HAVOK as one of the most persistent bands to emerge from thrash metal’s 21st-century resurgence.
“Fifth Generation Warfare” now points toward whatever comes next.
And rather than quietly easing into their latest era, HAVOK are taking 26 dates and three aggressively heavy bands along with them. Seems reasonable.
Hellripper, Slackjaw and Xoth Complete a Savage Package
Slackjaw bring another dose of contemporary thrash and heavy metal to the run, while Seattle’s Xoth push the evening farther toward the extreme end of the spectrum with their technical collision of death, black and thrash metal.
That makes the HAVOK 2026 U.S. tour unusually well constructed.
Instead of stacking four nearly interchangeable bands onto one bill, the package moves through several branches of extreme metal while maintaining enough common DNA to keep the entire night coherent.
Thrash is the backbone. Everything attached to it has teeth.
HAVOK 2026 U.S. Tour Dates
The tour currently includes the following 26 dates:
10/21 – Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall
10/22 – Boise, ID – Shrine Social Club Ballroom
10/23 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
10/24 – Portland, OR – Dante’s
10/26 – Roseville, CA – Goldfield Trading Post
10/27 – Berkeley, CA – Cornerstone Berkeley
10/28 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater
10/29 – Fresno, CA – Strummer’s
10/30 – Las Vegas, NV – Backstage Bar & Billiards
10/31 – Mesa, AZ – Nile Theater
11/02 – Dallas, TX – AM/FM
11/03 – Austin, TX – Come And Take It Live
11/04 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live Midtown
11/06 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade (Hell)
11/07 – Nashville, TN – The Basement East
11/08 – Asheville, NC – Eulogy
11/09 – Richmond, VA – Canal Club
11/11 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
11/12 – Harrisburg, PA – Capital City Music Hall
11/13 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
11/14 – New York, NY – Racket
11/15 – Lakewood, OH – Mercury Music Lounge
11/17 – Detroit, MI – Catacombs at the Sanctuary
11/18 – Chicago, IL – Reggies
11/19 – Kansas City, MO – RecordBar
11/20 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
Tickets are on sale now. Individual venue listings also confirm the four-band HAVOK, Hellripper, Slackjaw and Xoth package.
For HAVOK, it’s another coast-to-coast demonstration that the American thrash revival never really went anywhere.
For Hellripper, however, this is new territory.
After building a formidable reputation from Scotland outward, McBain’s blackened speed-metal beast is finally crossing the United States off the list.
Twenty-six dates. Four bands. Hellripper’s first U.S. tour.
October suddenly got considerably louder.
About The Author
Caine Blackthorn writes music news, trending topics, commentary, and feature pieces for Metal Lair with a focus on the shifting culture surrounding rock and heavy metal. From rising ticket prices and touring collapse to legacy artists, industry absurdity, and the changing soul of live music, his work blends sharp observation with the grit, humor, and frustration of the scene itself. Whether covering modern chaos or metal history, Caine approaches heavy music as something lived through, not simply reported on.
Read More From This Author:
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