Armored Saint and Metal Church have announced “The Metal Saint Tour 2026,” a 16-date co-headlining North American run with Livekill in support on all dates. The tour begins Nov. 2 in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and concludes Nov. 21 in Agoura Hills, Calif. Tickets go on sale May 29 at 10 a.m. local time.
Armored Saint vocalist John Bush said: “Two classic metal bands from the ’80s on tour together doing headline sets and both with brand new awesome records out [Armored Saint with Emotion Factory Reset and Metal Church with Dead To Rights]. If you call yourself a metalhead and you don’t come to this show when we roll into your town, you’d better have a damn good excuse. AS and MC. Let’s do this!”
Metal Church guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof said, “It’s incredibly exciting to be getting back on the road with our friends and an honor to be sharing the stage with one of America’s finest metal bands! Definitely a show you won’t want to miss!”
Emotion Factory Reset, Armored Saint‘s ninth studio album, was produced by bassist Joey Vera — as were the previous four albums — and mixed by Jay Ruston (Anthrax, Stone Sour). Songs include “Close To The Bone,” “Hit A Moonshot,” and “Every Man-Any Man.” A special European edition of the CD digipak includes the bonus track “One Chain (Don’t Make No Prison)” — originally written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and first released by People in 1970, subsequently covered by The Four Tops (1974), Santana (1978), and The Doobie Brothers (1989). Cover art is by DDKing.
In July 2023, the band was inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, Calif. In May 2023, the long-awaited documentary Armored Saint: Band of Brothers had its world premiere in Hollywood.
Metal Church released its 13th studio album, Dead To Rights, on April 10 via Rat Pak Records. The album marks the first release from the band’s latest lineup, featuring founding guitarist Vanderhoof alongside longtime guitarist Rick Van Zandt, former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, drummer Ken Mary, and new vocalist Brian Allen. The album was produced by Vanderhoof and mixed and mastered by Chris “Zeuss” Harris at Planet Z.
Born from the West Coast metal scene of the early ’80s, Metal Church signed with Elektra Records and released two landmark albums — their self-titled debut and its follow-up The Dark — both of which remain essential listening in the heavy metal canon. The band toured with labelmates Metallica as the U.S. metal wave surged. Metal Church continued to evolve with vocalist Mike Howe on the acclaimed Blessing In Disguise and The Human Factor. In 2016, the band reunited with Howe for XI, which debuted at No. 57 on the Billboard Top 200 and charted internationally; its 2018 successor, Damned If You Do, continued that momentum. Howe died in July 2021; Marc Lopes joined in the summer of 2022 as his replacement and recorded one album with the band, Congregation of Annihilation, released in May 2023 via Rat Pak Records.
