Isaac Delahaye

Belgian guitarist and composer

Isaac Delahaye
Isaac Delahaye performing live in 2022
Background information
Born	(1982-01-09) 9 January 1982 (age 42) Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium
Origin	Belgium, Ypres
Genres	Symphonic metal, melodic death metal, blackened death metal, progressive metal, thrash metal, heavy metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)	Guitar, bass, vocals

Musical artist

Isaac Delahaye (born 9 January 1982) is a Belgian guitarist and composer, best known as the lead guitarist of Dutch symphonic metal band Epica since 2009.^[1] Prior to that he was lead guitarist in the Dutch death metal band God Dethroned. Delahaye replaced former guitarist Jens van der Valk in God Dethroned after van der Valk left in 2004. He joined the band after a request from drummer and longtime friend Ariën van Weesenbeek and after several meetings with van Weesenbeek and Henri Sattler, Delahaye was welcomed into the band on 29 June 2004. On 15 January 2009, the official announcement came that Isaac was no longer a part of God Dethroned. Soon afterwards, an announcement came from the band Epica that proclaimed Delahaye as their recently hired guitarist.

Delahaye once used exclusively Jackson Guitars, his primary ones being a green Jackson Kelly and a black Jackson Kelly that have Seymour Duncan pickups with a Floyd Rose tremolo. More recently he has been using Ibanez Guitars, primarily his custom seven version of DN500K Darkstone, which he describes as an "Integral part of the sound of Epica". In an interview with Moshville Uk he states that he uses a Les Paul Black Beauty and en Epiphone custom for in the studio for solos, due to their thinner necks than the Darkstone. He also mentions that he uses a Maton 808 custom series TE acoustic.^[2] He uses Bogner amplifiers including the Uberschall and Shiva 25th Anniversary edition and in the studio mixes his guitar sound with an Axe FX II and SansAmp.^[2] He and also has used Bogner and V-Empire 2x12 Cabinets with V30 speakers.^[3]

Delahaye was a member of the symphonic death metal band MaYaN from 2010–2013. He appeared on the album Quarterpast. He was replaced by Merel Bechtold as rhythm guitarist.

Musical style

Delahaye incorporates legato, alternate picking, tremolo picking, tapping, and use of the whammy bar in his solos.

Education

Isaac has a Bachelor of Music degree.^[4]

Extra gear

Gibson Les Paul Standard 7 String Limited 2016 Heritage Cherry Sunburst
Gibson Les Paul Standard 7 String Limited 2016 Tobacco Burst
InTune Picks
Morley + Boss Pedals
Sennheiser Wireless + In Ear Monitoring
American Music Products Straps
Audio Technika Mics
Ernie Ball Strings^[4]

References

^ "Epica: Isaac Delahaye is the new guitarist". idiomag. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Interview: Isaac Delahaye of Epica". The Moshville Times. 22 November 2015.
^ "Our Clients". V-Empire amps. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Epica Members". Epica.nl.

Preceded by Jens Van Der Valk	Guitarist for God Dethroned 2004–2009	Succeeded by Susan Gerl
Preceded by Ad Sluijter	Guitarist for Epica since 2009	Incumbent

Epica

Mark Jansen
Coen Janssen
Simone Simons
Ariën van Weesenbeek
Isaac Delahaye
Rob van der Loo

Yves Huts
Ad Sluijter
Helena Iren Michaelsen
Jeroen Simons

Studio albums

EPs

Live albums

The Classical Conspiracy
Retrospect

Compilations

The Road to Paradiso

v t e God Dethroned
Henri Sattler Michiel Van Der Plicht Jeroen Pomper Dave Meester Tony Laureano Ariën van Weesenbeek Isaac Delahaye Danny Tunker Henk "Henke" Zinger
Studio albums	The Christhunt (1992) The Grand Grimoire (1996) Bloody Blasphemy (1999) The Ancient Ones compilation (2000) Ravenous (2001) Into the Lungs of Hell (2003) The Lair of the White Worm (2004) The Toxic Touch (2006) Passiondale (2009) Under The Sign Of The Iron Cross (2010) The World Ablaze (2017) Illuminati (2020)