Cannibal Corpse: Hate Eternal’s Erik Rutan to Fill In for Guitarist Pat O’Brien

As most of fans probably guessed would be the case, guitarist Pat O’Brien will not be joining Cannibal Corpse on their upcoming stints as part of the Decibel Magazine Tour and Slayer’s farewell tour.

The legendary death metal band has announced that Hate Eternal mastermind Erik Rutan will fill in for O’Brien while the guitarist “tends to personal issues.” Rutan is a logical choice, seeing as he’s not only a brilliant musician (lest you forget, he was also once in Morbid Angel), but the producer of four Cannibal Corpse albums (Kill, Evisceration Plague, Torture, and Red Before Black) as well.

In December, O’Brien was arrested and charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling with assault and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. Authorities were reportedly called to O’Brien’s home in Northdale, FL when it “caught fire with exploding ammunition inside,” later revealed to be from military-grade flamethrowers and more than eighty firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition. While firefighters struggled to put out the fire despite the exploding ammunition, O’Brien was nearby, allegedly robbing a neighbor. When the police found him hiding near a fence outside that neighbor’s home, he reportedly charged them with a knife, and had to be put down with a taser.

You can get all of Cannibal Corpse’s upcoming Decibel Magazine Tour dates here and all of their Slayer tour dates here.