Swedish heavy metal heroes SABATON are uniting with German thrash titans KREATOR for the ultimate North American co-headlining trek. The 24-date tour kicks off on Thursday, February 8, 2018 at The Van Buren in Phoenix, Arizona and will make stops in Los Angeles, Montreal, and Philadelphia before concluding at Jannus Landing in Tampa, Florida on March 10.

SABATON‘s Par Sundström comments: “We are excited to return to American grounds after the last successful tour. Teaming up with our friends in KREATOR, we are able to play larger venues which allows us to bring a bigger production than we ever brought into America.”

KREATOR‘s Mille Petrozza states: “Hordes! We return back to North America alongside the mighty SABATON! It’s a true European invasion and we can’t wait to be back! We’re looking forward to sharing this bill with SABATON and playing our full headline set for KREATOR fans old and new.”

General admission tickets go on sale on Friday, November 3 at 10:00 a.m. local time.

Dates for the 2018 SABATON and KREATOR North American co-headlining tour are:

Feb. 08 – The Van Buren – Phoenix, AZ
Feb. 09 – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA
Feb. 10 – The UC Theater – San Francisco, CA
Feb. 12 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR
Feb. 13 – Showbox – Seattle, WA
Feb. 14 – The Vogue Theater – Vancouver, BC, Canada
Feb. 16 – Union Hall – Edmonton, AB, Canada
Feb. 17 – The Palace – Calgary, AB, Canada
Feb. 19 – Revolution – Boise, ID
Feb. 21 – The Gothic Theater – Denver, CO
Feb. 22 – The Truman – Kansas City, MO
Feb. 23 – The Myth – Minneapolis, MN
Feb. 24 – Orpheum – Madison, WI
Feb. 26 – 20 Monroe – Grand Rapids, MI
Feb. 27 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL
Mar. 01 – The Phoenix – Toronto, ON, Canada
Mar. 02 – Metropolis – Montreal, QC, Canada
Mar. 03 – House of Blues – Boston, MA
Mar. 04 – The Paramount Theater – Huntington, NY
Mar. 06 – The Fillmore – Philadelphia, PA
Mar. 07 – The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD
Mar. 08 – The Ritz – Raleigh, NC
Mar. 09 – Buckhead Theatre – Atlanta, GA
Mar. 10 – Jannus Landing – Tampa, FL

SABATON‘s eighth album, “The Last Stand”, was released in August 2016 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2014’s “Heroes” was once again produced by Peter Tägtgren (PAIN, LINDEMANN, HYPOCRISY) and it “marks a brand new chapter in SABATON history,” according to a press release.

The artwork for “The Last Stand” was created by Peter Sallaí, who has worked with SABATON since “Carolus Rex”.

SABATON last year parted ways with guitarist Thobbe Englund and replaced him with Tommy Johansson (GOLDEN RESURRECTION, REINXEED).

KREATOR is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, “Gods Of Violence”, which entered the official chart in Germany at position No. 1. The cover artwork for the album was created by renowned artist Jan Meininghaus, who also made the limited-edition artwork for KREATOR‘s previous effort, 2012’s “Phantom Antichrist”, and has lent his talents to bands like BOLT THROWER, ACCEPT and OVERKILL in the past.

Petrozza told Metal Wani about the reception to “Gods Of Violence”: “It couldn’t be better. To us, the way we measured the success of our record is ‘How do the fans react in the live situation to the songs we put in the setlist?’ For [the latest] tour, we’ve added, like, five or six new songs to the setlist. Reactions are just as good for, let’s say, ‘Extreme Aggression’ or one of the classic songs. To us, it’s mind-blowing. It shows us that we did something right.”

Fonte: Blabbermouth.net