Hurricane Can’t Stop Hate Eternal’s Drive For Old School Death Metal
It has been said that idle hands are the Devil’s workshop. The same cannot be said for Hate Eternal’s Erik Rutan, at least the idle hands part. Rutan, the guitarist and lead vocalist for the Florida-based death metal four-piece, is one of the hardest working musicians in metal, with his band touring a good chunk of the year.
When he’s not on the road, you can most likely find him in his studio, Mana Recording Studios, working on any number of projects. This year alone, he’s had his hand in Nile’s Those Whom the Gods Detest, Goatwhore’s Carving Out the Eyes of God and Cannibal Corpse’s Evisceration Plague in the role of mixer and producer.
With Hate Eternal, Rutan brings his love of old school brutal death metal (undoubtedly aided by his time spent as a guitarist for death metal legends, Morbid Angel) every day, rain or shine.
Rutan checks in from the road as the band are on their way to scenic Richmond, Virginia, next stop on Hatebreed’s “Decimation of the Nation” tour.
“We’re just driving in some shitty weather, trying to make it to the gig,” Rutan reveals.
As it turns out, they were driving through the remnants of Hurricane Ida, but as Rutan says, even a hurricane won’t stop them.
“We found out the show got cancelled two hours ago, and then all of a sudden they decided that the show wasn’t cancelled, so it’s kinda hectic, but we go on anyway.”
Always the optimist, Rutan has no problem sharing a bill with the other bands on the tour, saying, “I love those bands. You don’t turn down a Hatebreed/Cannibal tour unless you’re a retard. I’d have to say that Hatebreed and Cannibal are the two coolest bands I’ve toured with in my whole career. Two of the coolest bands, and the easiest to get along with. They’re super professional.”
The tour features some of the biggest bands around, including the aforementioned Hatebreed and Cannibal Corpse, along with Born of Osiris and Unearth. Rutan isn’t phased by the interesting genre mix on the tour, exclaiming, “I think it’s great that Hatebreed likes to bring out different bands and try to expose their audience to a variety of music and try to tear down walls of limitation and one-sidedness. They brought us out five years ago, and they brought us out again, so we’re really appreciative of the opportunity to tour with them.”
In an ideal world, Rutan would like to see the community become closer again, preaching, “in this day in age, there’s a lot of separation between genres. You’re never gonna change everybody, some people are going to be closed-minded to what you do, and some people are, but some people at the beginning of the show are like, ‘what the f**k is this?’ And then by the end of the show are like ‘this is pretty awesome.’ The whole goal is really to try to change people’s perspectives, and open people’s minds to new music. Most people that listen to metal all have something in common: we all listened to Iron Maiden or Priest or Slayer or something, we all just went in different directions. We all have to kind of become a conglomerate again, you know?”
One thing is certain, and that is that Rutan takes his death metal seriously, especially the classics.
“When you think about bands that are still around, look at Cannibal Corpse, on their 11th album, still providing amazing music, and Immolation – still around – and Nile – still around. I think these bands deserve respect, man, for sticking it through and providing great classic death metal,” says Rutan.
When asked about his thoughts on the current state of death metal, Rutan answers, “it’s definitely changing. You don’t hear a lot of new, classic death metal bands starting. It’s pretty much the same handful of bands that are still around and the new hybrid death metal, deathcore and metalcore and what not. Music is always going to evolve, but what blows my mind is the stuff that’s coming out nowadays, and the younger bands. They never even listened to Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse or Deicide. For me, I went back and I researched when I started listening to metal and I wanted to know the origins of where metal started, so I listened to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and stuff like that, and then Metallica and all the thrash and then the death metal. For me, I stay true to what I do, and play brutal, dissonant, evil, classic death metal. I’m grateful that there are still some bands that are on that same path. I think they deserve some respect for staying true.”
As for Hate Eternal’s legacy, Rutan has humble aspirations, saying, “at the end of the day, I hope that Hate Eternal gets remembered for being a part of the resurgence of death metal in the late ’90s and early 2000s. When I started Hate Eternal, people were telling me ‘black metal is big’ and ‘why waste your time playing extreme death metal, nobody is gonna care about this stuff,’ and I heard this from a bunch of labels. If anything, all it did was inspire me more to want to create even more brutal death metal. It’s goddamn brutal, and it’s angry and it’s heavy.”
It has been said that idle hands are the Devil’s workshop. The same cannot be said for Hate Eternal’s Erik Rutan, at least the idle hands part. Rutan, the guitarist and lead vocalist for the Florida-based death metal four-piece, is one of the hardest working musicians in metal, with his band touring a good chunk of the year.
When he’s not on the road, you can most likely find him in his studio, Mana Recording Studios, working on any number of projects. This year alone, he’s had his hand in Nile’s Those Whom the Gods Detest, Goatwhore’s Carving Out the Eyes of God and Cannibal Corpse’s Evisceration Plague in the role of mixer and producer.
With Hate Eternal, Rutan brings his love of old school brutal death metal (undoubtedly aided by his time spent as a guitarist for death metal legends, Morbid Angel) every day, rain or shine.
Rutan checks in from the road as the band are on their way to scenic Richmond, Virginia, next stop on Hatebreed’s “Decimation of the Nation” tour.
“We’re just driving in some shitty weather, trying to make it to the gig,” Rutan reveals.
As it turns out, they were driving through the remnants of Hurricane Ida, but as Rutan says, even a hurricane won’t stop them.
“We found out the show got cancelled two hours ago, and then all of a sudden they decided that the show wasn’t cancelled, so it’s kinda hectic, but we go on anyway.”
Always the optimist, Rutan has no problem sharing a bill with the other bands on the tour, saying, “I love those bands. You don’t turn down a Hatebreed/Cannibal tour unless you’re a retard. I’d have to say that Hatebreed and Cannibal are the two coolest bands I’ve toured with in my whole career. Two of the coolest bands, and the easiest to get along with. They’re super professional.”
The tour features some of the biggest bands around, including the aforementioned Hatebreed and Cannibal Corpse, along with Born of Osiris and Unearth. Rutan isn’t phased by the interesting genre mix on the tour, exclaiming, “I think it’s great that Hatebreed likes to bring out different bands and try to expose their audience to a variety of music and try to tear down walls of limitation and one-sidedness. They brought us out five years ago, and they brought us out again, so we’re really appreciative of the opportunity to tour with them.”
In an ideal world, Rutan would like to see the community become closer again, preaching, “in this day in age, there’s a lot of separation between genres. You’re never gonna change everybody, some people are going to be closed-minded to what you do, and some people are, but some people at the beginning of the show are like, ‘what the f**k is this?’ And then by the end of the show are like ‘this is pretty awesome.’ The whole goal is really to try to change people’s perspectives, and open people’s minds to new music. Most people that listen to metal all have something in common: we all listened to Iron Maiden or Priest or Slayer or something, we all just went in different directions. We all have to kind of become a conglomerate again, you know?”
One thing is certain, and that is that Rutan takes his death metal seriously, especially the classics.
“When you think about bands that are still around, look at Cannibal Corpse, on their 11th album, still providing amazing music, and Immolation – still around – and Nile – still around. I think these bands deserve respect, man, for sticking it through and providing great classic death metal,” says Rutan.
When asked about his thoughts on the current state of death metal, Rutan answers, “it’s definitely changing. You don’t hear a lot of new, classic death metal bands starting. It’s pretty much the same handful of bands that are still around and the new hybrid death metal, deathcore and metalcore and what not. Music is always going to evolve, but what blows my mind is the stuff that’s coming out nowadays, and the younger bands. They never even listened to Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse or Deicide. For me, I went back and I researched when I started listening to metal and I wanted to know the origins of where metal started, so I listened to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and stuff like that, and then Metallica and all the thrash and then the death metal. For me, I stay true to what I do, and play brutal, dissonant, evil, classic death metal. I’m grateful that there are still some bands that are on that same path. I think they deserve some respect for staying true.”
As for Hate Eternal’s legacy, Rutan has humble aspirations, saying, “at the end of the day, I hope that Hate Eternal gets remembered for being a part of the resurgence of death metal in the late ’90s and early 2000s. When I started Hate Eternal, people were telling me ‘black metal is big’ and ‘why waste your time playing extreme death metal, nobody is gonna care about this stuff,’ and I heard this from a bunch of labels. If anything, all it did was inspire me more to want to create even more brutal death metal. It’s goddamn brutal, and it’s angry and it’s heavy.”
Hate Eternal bring their classica death sound to the MacEwan Hall Ballroom in Calgary, Alta. on December 5. The Decimation of the Nation Tour then heads north to Edmonton for a December 6 show at the Edmonton Events Centre.
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