Erik Rutan played in Morbid Angel between 1993 and 1996, and then again between 1999 and 2002. Despite not having been in the band for over two decades at this point, Rutan still holds an extremely high opinion of founding Morbid Angel guitarist Trey Azagthoth.
In an interview with the Riffhard podcast, Rutan said Azagthoth is one of the most important guitarists across any genre. On the topic of just death metal, Rutan said Azagthoth and Death frontman Chuck Schuldiner were the ones that changed everything.
"To me, Trey — there's no argument, as far as I'm concerned. Trey is one of the most important guitar players not just in death metal, but just period. If you're just specifically talking about death metal, of course, to me, I'm gonna speak of Trey, I'm gonna speak of Chuck, two guys that changed the face of of everything.
"What I love about Trey's playing is just his uniqueness and creativity and no-holds-barred approach of how he played. It just came naturally; he just felt it. And me as a player, although I'm a different player than Trey, we had similar traits in the sense of that we both just did whatever came naturally. We didn't think about the rules or logistics. It was just about, 'This is what I felt', and that's why I think that Trey and I were a really good team.
"We're very different but same as far as our approach. And learning all the classic Morbid Angel — man, I toured for four albums; I played on three."
And who can argue with that? Morbid Angel's 1989 album Altars Of Madness changed the game in a significant way and Azagthoth's influence can be heard across the genre even today.
