Indie folk group The Mountain Group—featuring former Decibel back page wordsmith John Darnielle—brought out a surprise guest at their show at the Orpheum in Tampa, Florida on Saturday night: death metal legend Erik Rutan. Rutan, guitarist in Hate Eternal and previously in Morbid Angel and Ripping Corpse, joined The Mountain Goats as a guest guitarist on their songs “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton” and “Autoclave.”
The collaboration isn’t as far-fetched as it seems. In addition to Darnielle’s love for extreme metal (check out this video of him opening Decibel‘s 100th Issue Show), Rutan produced and recorded four songs on The Mountain Goat’s 2011 album, All Eternals Deck.
“It was an incredible moment to play with John and The Mountain Goats on stage Saturday night in Tampa,” Rutan told Decibel. “A memory I will never forget!”
The crowd won’t soon forget either, if their reaction is any indication. Check out the video below.
If you liked what you heard, you can find The Mountain Goats on Bandcamp. Be warned: their discography is huge and comes in many flavors.