Erik Rutan

Rutan was born in New Jersey. ==Career==

Ripping Corpse Rutan started his music career with Ripping Corpse, recording one album titled Dreaming with the Dead released in 1991. Morbid Angel Rutan left Ripping Corpse in 1993 to join Morbid Angel, recording Domination (1995) before leaving in 1996 to found his own band, Hate Eternal. He returned to Morbid Angel to record 2000's Gateways to Annihilation before leaving again to concentrate on Hate Eternal. He rejoined the band once more for the band's 2006 summer tour of Europe, which featured the band's Domination lineup. The tour included a stop at the Wacken Open Air festival. Hate Eternal Hate Eternal released their debut album Conquering the Throne in 1999, followed by King of All Kings in 2002 and I, Monarch in 2005. Cannibal Corpse On January 18, 2019, it was announced that Rutan would fill in for Pat O'Brien of Cannibal Corpse for the remainder of their winter and spring tour dates. Rutan was later made the permanent lead guitarist of the band on February 2, 2021 and appears on their fifteenth studio album Violence Unimagined. Other projects Rutan has had a number of side projects that highlight different aspects of his playing. For example, he formed the group Alas with former Therion vocalist Martina Astner, releasing the landmark progressive metal album Absolute Purity in 2001. Rutan was also a guest vocalist on the track "Bone Crown" on Annotations of an Autopsy's second full-length album, II: The Reign of Darkness. ==Equipment==

Erik is a long time player of B.C. Rich guitars and has played various Ironbirds and V's with Dimarzio, EMG, Seymour Duncan, and (more recently) Fishman pickups. He has also played Ibanez guitars, mostly during his latter days with Morbid Angel and the early Hate Eternal days. During his time with Ripping Corpse, he played a Yamaha superstrat guitar (most likely an RGX model). For Morbid Angel, he used a Gibson Explorer outfitted with a Floyd Rose bridge and an Ibanez Universe guitar given to him by Trey Azagthoth. Recently, B.C. Rich created an Erik Rutan custom 7-string Ironbird with Fishman Fluence pickups and this is now his main guitar for Cannibal Corpse. Erik uses various amps from various companies including Marshall, ENGL, and Mesa Boogie. In 2021 Rutan got an endorsement with B.C. Rich, he now has his own signature 7 String Ironbird. == Personal life ==

Rutan engages in yoga stretches and meditation prior to performing live. In 2002, Rutan contracted a foodborne illness from escherichia coli after eating what he believed was a "bad steak" from a truck stop in North Carolina while en route to Portland. He recounted the experience in the music history book Raising Hell: "At the time we got to the hotel, I was shitting my brains out every five minutes, and it was just pure liquid. We were supposed to play that night. I went, 'I don't know how we're gonna play.' I got so dehydrated I passed out and I had to go to the hospital. I stayed overnight and they put me on an IV and gave me medication. I had to cancel the show, and man, there's nothing worse than cancelling a show. I had to be on a special diet for a month." In 2024, Rutan lost 90% of everything he owned due to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, which required him to leave a European tour with Cannibal Corpse early. He said in a statement: "Personal and family belongings, photos, things that can never be replaced as well as musical and studio gear was either severely damaged or completely destroyed. This experience has been difficult beyond words. Almost three weeks ago, I left the Cannibal Corpse tour to fly home to be with my wife, only to see our home and all our belongings in ruin. This has been one of the most difficult times of our lives. [...] We worked so hard our entire lives to achieve what we have only to see it all taken away in a fleeting moment. I have no idea how we will overcome all of this, but anyone that knows us knows that we will fight our way back through sheer will and determination to hopefully one day reclaim some kind of normalcy." As documented by Granville Guitars, two of his retired custom shop BC Rich Ironbirds, as well as his Gibson Explorer and his Ibanez Universe from his days with Morbid Angel have been restored to playing condition. ==Production discography==

Rutan has produced the following albums: • Belphegor: Conjuring the Dead • Cannibal Corpse: Kill, Evisceration Plague, Torture, Red Before Black, Violence Unimagined, Chaos Horrific • Madball: Empire • Agnostic Front: My Life My Way • Six Feet Under: Commandment • Annotations of an Autopsy: II: The Reign of Darkness • Morbid Angel: Illud Divinum Insanus (drum production), Kingdoms Disdained • Soilent Green: Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction, Confrontation • Through the Eyes of the Dead: Malice • Goatwhore: A Haunting Curse, Carving Out The Eyes of God, Blood for the Master, Constricting Rage of the Merciless • Vital Remains: Icons of Evil • Malevolent Creation: Invidious Dominion (co-producer) • Nile: Those Whom the Gods Detest (drum production) • Krisiun: Conquerors of Armageddon, Forged in Fury • Pessimist: Slaughtering The Faithful • Internal Suffering: Internal Suffering, Awakening of the Rebel • Premonitions of War: Left In Kowloon • Aeon: Path of Fire (mixing) • In Battle: Welcome to the Battlefield • The Absence: From Your Grave • Pathology: Legacy of the Ancients • Avulsed: Gorespattered Suicide • Into the Moat: The Design, The Campaign (album) • Torture Killer: Swarm! (mixing) • Pain Principle: Waiting For The Flies • Covenance: Ravaging The Pristine • Ophiolatry: Anti-Evangelistic Process • Devourment: Conceived in Sewage • The Mountain Goats: All Eternals Deck (four songs) • Masacre: Total Death • Tombs: Savage Gold • Ephel Duath: Hemmed By Light, Shaped By Darkness, On Death and Cosmos • Rivers of Nihil: The Conscious Seed of Light ==References==