CANNIBAL CORPSE Recruits Guitarist ERIK RUTAN For Upcoming Tours

January 18, 2019

Florida-based death metallers CANNIBAL CORPSE have recruited Erik Rutan to fill in for guitarist Pat O'Brien on the band's upcoming tours. Rutan will appear live with the band for the "Decibel Magazine Tour" and the upcoming U.S. leg of SLAYER's final tour happening this May alongside LAMB OF GOD and AMON AMARTH.

This won't be the first time these death metal powerhouses have worked together; Rutan has produced four albums with CANNIBAL CORPSE ("Kill", "Evisceration Plague", "Torture", "Red Before Black") and is uniquely equipped to fill the role — he is one of the death metal's most acclaimed guitarists and is known for his time as part of MORBID ANGEL (who are co headlining the "Decibel" tour alongside CANNIBAL) throughout the '90s and early 2000s, as well as handling vocals/guitars and production duties for his current band HATE ETERNAL.

O'Brien was arrested on December 10 on charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault. Deputies say he burglarized a house and charged at a deputy with a knife.

O'Brien allegedly broke into a Northdale, Florida home and shouted that "the rapture is coming" before pushing a woman to the ground. He ran toward a responding deputy with a knife and was subdued with a stun gun.

Less than half a mile from where O'Brien was arrested, a fire broke out at the house he was renting, sending flames billowing into the night sky from the roof. Fire marshals found a large cache of weapon, locked safes and potential explosive devices inside O'Brien's home.

The owner of the home where O'Brien was arrested wouldn't go on camera but told ABC Action News he thought the guitarist was hallucinating when he spoke to him and claimed "someone was after him." The homeowner added O'Brien seemed scared and at one point even hid in his closet.

At a first appearance hearing on December 11, a Hillsborough County judge told the 53-year-old musician, clad in an anti-suicide vest with his hands and ankles chained together, that he would first have to pass a drug test before he would be allowed to post bail and leave jail.

O'Brien was released from Hillsborough County jail on December 14, after posting a $50,000 surety bond.

Erik Rutan photo credit: Alex Morgan Imaging

Find more on Cannibal corpse

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).