Erik Rutan (born June 10, 1971) is an American heavy metal musician and record producer. He is the guitarist and lead vocalist of death metal band Hate Eternal and most notably, lead guitarist for Cannibal Corpse, since 2021. Rutan has also spent time with Morbid Angel (three different stints) and Ripping Corpse. In addition, Rutan also owns and operates Mana Recording Studios in Florida.
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.
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.[1][2] Rutan was later made the permanent lead guitarist of the band on February 2, 2021.[3]
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.[4]
