Well, this sucks for both fans of Belphegor and for the band’s singer/guitarist Helmuth Lehner. The band have been forced to cancel their imminent North American tour due to a family emergency. Here’s what the band said on their Facebook page about the tour cancellation, which was to have kicked off on September 24th in Manhattan:

Due to a critical and immediate family emergency, Belphegor have been forced to cancel the planned headlining North American “Voices From The Dark” tour with Rotting Christ (Greece), Beheaded (Malta), and Svart Crown (France), which was scheduled to launch September 24th in New York City. Belphegor frontman & guitarist Helmuth Lehner has issued the following statement: “After fighting many months now (the last 4 months have been terrible), my mother is at the end. Her body is decaying more and more and will not survive the next weeks (maybe days) or will fall in coma soon. I will not risk being away at this time.”

Total bummer, but completely understandable that Lehner wants to spend time with his mom in her dying days. The tour was to have lasted for about two and a half weeks. Their next show following that was in Tokyo at the Loudpark Festival on October 18th. There’s no word on whether that’s been canceled yet, but again, he should take as much time as he needs off.