The American Carnage/Canadian Carnage tour dates which were due to kick off later this month have been postponed as a result of Slayer frontman Tom Araya requiring back surgery.

The trek, which was originally set to feature Megadeth, Slayer and Testament, is hoped to be rescheduled for later this year. For now, Slayer have issued the following statement:

“Tom gave various medical treatments more than a fair shot,” said Slayer’s manager Rick Sales, “but they just haven’t handled the problem, so he’s biting the bullet and is scheduled for back surgery at the end of this month.”

This difficult decision made by the band’s bassist/vocalist Tom Araya means the cancellation of Slayer’s immediate tour plans that include the American and Canadian Carnage Tour dates that were set to kick off on January 18, as well as the band’s UK/European headline tour scheduled for March and April.

Booking agents for both Slayer and Megadeth are already hard at work rescheduling the tour dates; tickets already purchased for these shows will be honored at the rescheduled dates.

The headbanging Araya, known for aggressively swinging his long mane of hair while performing, began experiencing back problems while on the band’s Australian/New Zealand/Japanese tour last October.

In spite of his rapidly increasing pain and discomfort, he carried on with the tour, but immediately upon returning home saw an orthopedic specialist who diagnosed a Cervical Radiculopathy. The rocker initially did not want to take the major surgery route, so the specialist recommended a series of minimally-invasive procedures.

While those procedures have resulted in some improvement, Araya continues to deal with intermittent bouts of severe pain, numbness and muscle spasms. The surgical procedure that Araya will undergo, called an Anterior Cervical Discectomy with Fusion, is a relatively routine practice and the recovery rate is excellent.

Sales added, “As unfortunate as this is for so many people – the Megadeth and Testament camps, the concerts’ promoters, and, of course, the fans – Tom’s health is the number one priority, and this has to happen.”

Megadeth have announced a wealth of new dates in support of the impending release of their new album “Endgame“, which will see a release tomorrow, September 15th, through Roadrunner. First up, the band will once again team up with Slayer, Machine Head and Suicide Silence, this time for the “Canadian Carnage East Tour“, which will run as follows:

November 08th Moncton, NB – Moncton Coliseum
November 09th Halifax, NS – Halifax Metro Center
November 11th Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
November 12th Quebec City, QC – Colisee Pepsi Arena
November 13th Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre

Following that, Megadeth will embark on the following North American run with Machine Head, Suicide Silence and Arcanium in tow:

November 14th Grand Rapids, MI – The Orbit Room
November 15th Peoria, IL – Peoria Civic Center
November 17th Milwaukee, WI – Eagles Ballroom
November 18th Columbus, OH – The LC Pavilion
November 20th Covington, KY – Madison Theatre
November 21st Richmond, VA – The National
November 22nd Knoxville, TN – Valarium
November 23rd Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte
November 25th Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
November 27th Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live
November 28th N. Myrtle Beach, SC – House Of Blues
November 30th Corpus Christi, TX – Pavillion @ Concrete Street
December 01s San Antonio, TX – Sunken Garden Amphitheatre
December 02nd Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom
December 03rd Oklahoma City, OK – Bricktown Events Center
Without Machine Head:
December 05th Kansas City, MO – The Beaumont
December 06th Sauget, IL – Pop’s
December 07th Davenport, IA – Great Hall @ River Center
December 08th Fargo, ND – Fargo Civic Auditorium
December 10th Billings, MT – Shrine Auditorium