Pallbearer have done exactly what they should do with a masterpiece: they're taking it on the road again, and they've expanded the run significantly. What started as an April headline tour with Knoll has grown into a two-leg North American campaign running through June, with Blood Vulture stepping in as support for the second stretch.
Every night is a full performance of Foundations of Burden — the 2014 album that placed the Little Rock, Arkansas doom quartet in a category few bands occupy.
Why This Tour Matters
Foundations of Burden is not a casual listen. It's 55 minutes of deliberate, aching doom that builds with the patience of a storm forming on the horizon. Brett Campbell's vocals alone — melodic, raw, genuinely mournful — make most power metal singers sound like they're performing theater. The album earned Best New Music from Pitchfork and topped Decibel's year-end list in 2014, and it hasn't aged a day.
The band re-released the album in 2025 with new mixes from Mario Quintero (Spotlights) and mastering from Adam Gonsalves — a fresh coat of production that honors the original recording while opening up what Billy Anderson captured at Type Foundry Studio.
Pallbearer addressed the expansion directly in a press statement: "It's no secret that we're passionate about Foundations of Burden. Revisiting the record last year was so invigorating for us, and presenting it live in its entirety on stage has been a blast. We hold it as a special landmark in our history."
That tracks. You don't put this much care into a redux release if you're not fully committed to the material.
The Supports Are Right
Knoll — accompanying the April leg — deal in a kind of punishing, dissonant chaos that sits somewhere between death-doom and the most airless corners of noise music. Pallbearer described them as "funereal chaos apparitions," which is accurate. Musically, the pairing is confrontational in a good way: Knoll's density against Pallbearer's expansive grief creates a full evening of heavy that actually earns that word.
Blood Vulture handles the May/June leg. For fans unfamiliar, this is a band worth arriving early for.
Full Tour Dates
Pallbearer only:
- 3/27 — Little Rock, AR @ White Water Tavern
With Knoll:
- 4/8 — Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
- 4/10 — Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
- 4/11 — Buffalo, NY @ Rec Room
- 4/12 — Brattleboro, VT @ Stone Church
- 4/14 — Portland, ME @ Oxbow
- 4/15 — Portsmouth, NH @ Press Room
- 4/17 — Braintree, MA @ Hopsmokerfest at Widowmaker Brewing
- 4/18 — Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
- 4/19 — Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
- 4/20 — Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
- 4/21 — Norfolk, VA @ The Annex
- 4/22 — Raleigh, NC @ Kings
- 4/23 — Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
With Blood Vulture:
- 5/28 — Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
- 5/29 — Toledo, OH @ Frankie's
- 5/30 — Toronto, ON @ Prepare the Ground Festival
- 5/31 — Montreal, QC @ Piranha Bar
- 6/2 — Albany, NY @ Empire Underground
- 6/3 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit
- 6/4 — Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme
- 6/5 — Milwaukee, WI @ Milwaukee Metal Fest
- 6/6 — Tolono, IL @ Loose Cobra
- 6/7 — Nashville, TN @ Cannery Hall
Tickets for the April leg are available now. The May/June leg went on sale March 20th via Ticketmaster and venue links through the band's website.
Pallbearer in 2026
The band's catalog holds up at every level. Sorrow and Extinction (2012) established them as a serious heavy act; Foundations of Burden (2014) broke through into mainstream critical attention; Heartless (2017) expanded their reach into progressive territory without abandoning the weight; and Forgotten Days (2020) was one of the most emotionally complete records of that year by any band in any genre.
The decision to revisit Foundations of Burden specifically makes sense. It's the pivot point — the album where Pallbearer became something more than a scene band. It's also structurally different from their later work: tighter, more claustrophobic, with less of the orchestral ambition that Heartless introduced. Playing it live in full is a statement about where they came from and what built the rest.
If you've seen Pallbearer before, you know what to expect: precise, unhurried, full volume, and a set that demands actual attention. If you haven't seen them, this is the show to start with.
Tickets via Ticketmaster and venue box offices. Move fast on the April dates — Pallbearer doesn't do arena capacity.
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