Pallbearer announce 2026 ‘Foundations of Burden’ tour

Melodic doom torch-carriers Pallbearer are keeping the celebration of their beloved 2014 sophomore album Foundations of Burden (our #82 album of the 2010s) going by performing it in full on tour this winter and spring. Last year, Pallbearer released a remixed, remastered version of of the album and then performed it in full on a short Southern tour with support from Memphis deathgrinders Knoll. Now they’re hitting the Northeast, the Midwest, and more, and Knoll will once again join on select dates.

Brooklyn gets a stop on Elsewhere Hall on April 18, and no opener is currently announced for that one. Tickets go on sale Friday (1/23) at 10 AM. All dates are listed below.

Here’s what the band previously had to say about the 2025 redux of Foundations of Burden:

“During the writing and preparation for Foundations, everything was ephemeral and we were practically feral,” recalls bassist/vocalist Joseph D. Rowland. “We had no real practice space, we barely had a single working computer between the four of us. Our demos of the record consisted of something barely discernible from white noise. Nevertheless, we knew we were working towards building a set of songs we were deeply enthusiastic about.

Once in the thick of recording, the feeling went from dream to dreamlike very quickly, as we found ourselves in what felt like an endless churn of repetition. We slept at the studio on whatever soft surfaces we could find, waking each day to discover that some of the previous day’s work had been corrupted overnight. This resulted in some parts of the album being recorded many times over. The guitars in particular mutated into something Sisyphean.”

Rowland continues, “Since the time that we finally committed the original version of Foundations to print, we knew it would be a sonic space we would eventually revisit. Its form did not unfold according to the original version as the numerous file corruptions, delays, and exhausted studio budget compounded into a final feverish push to finish the mix. We were relieved to get those massive and difficult mixes turned into finished songs just in time, but not without a nagging thought; we had to sacrifice much of the nuance we had spent so much time crafting.”

“In the time since then, we have played most of the songs from Foundations more times than we can count, and they remain some of our favorites,” Rowland continues. “The songs have grown with us. And while we hold a deep love and attachment to what we created in 2014, we also gained a fuller understanding of how we would want to re-present them if we had a chance. After years of discussion, listening and learning, we found ourselves in the position to fulfill that vision.”

Along with the tour announcement, they added:

It’s no secret that we’re passionate about Foundations of Burden. Revisiting the record last year was invigorating, and presenting it all on stage as the year culminated was such a blast for us. We are so pleased announce many more of these performances in 2026, including a reprise of appearances alongside the funereal chaos appiritions in Knoll.

And here’s what we wrote about Foundations of Burden for our list of the best albums of the 2010s:

Pallbearer proved they were a force to be reckoned with on their trad-doom reviving 2012 debut Sorrow and Extinction, and they proved their ambitions were limitless on their third album, 2017’s Heartless, which saw Pallbearer pushing their sound to two different extremes, from digestible sludge-pop to sprawling prog. And right smack in the middle of those two albums is Foundations of Burden, the sweet spot between where they started and where they are now. They’re still a trad-doom band on this album, but you can tell from songs like “Worlds Apart,” “Foundations,” and especially “The Ghost I Used to Be” that Pallbearer were getting interested in crafting great pop melodicism, not just copying Sabbath and Candlemass riffs. And on “Ashes,” Pallbearer begin to venture outside of metal with a glistening nugget that’s more like Sigur Ros or Bon Iver than like any doom band. “Trad-doom” is a tricky genre, because, as satisfying as it can be to listen to, it’s tough to do anything new when your genre literally includes an abbreviated version of the word “traditional.” But on Foundations of Burden, Pallbearer managed to (mostly) stick within the confines of the genre, while making a record that we really hadn’t heard before, and that remains fun as hell to listen to.

Stream the redux and original versions of the album and watch a video of them playing album highlight “The Ghost I Used to Be” at Saint Vitus below…

Pallbearer — 2026 Foundations of Burden Tour Dates
Feb. 19 • Oklahoma City, OK • Resonant Head
Feb. 20 • Tulsa, OK • Vanguard
Feb. 21 • Springfield, MO • Regency Live
Feb. 22 • Fayetteville, AR • George’s Majestic

Mar. 05 • St Louis, MO • Off Broadway
Mar. 06 • Columbia, MO • Rose Music Hall
Mar. 07 • Kansas City, MO • recordBar
Mar. 27 • Little Rock, AR • White Water Tavern

W/ Knoll
Apr. 08 • Louisville, KY • Zanzabar
Apr. 10 • Cleveland, OH • Grog Shop*
Apr. 11 • Buffalo, NY • Rec Room
Apr. 12 • Brattleboro, VT • Stone Church
Apr. 14 • Portland, ME • Oxbow
Apr. 15 • Portsmouth, NH • Press Room
Apr. 17 • Braintree, MA • Hopsmokerfest*
Apr. 18 • Brooklyn, NY • Elsewhere*
Apr. 19 • Baltimore, MD • Ottobar
Apr. 20 • Philadelphia, PA • Underground Arts*
Apr. 21 • Norfolk, VA • The Annex
Apr. 22 • Raleigh, NC • Kings
Apr. 23 • Knoxville, TN • Pilot Light

*no Knoll