Merel Bechtold (born February 27, 1992) is a guitarist from the Netherlands. She was born in

Blaricum Blaricum () is a municipality and village in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Gooiland and part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (Metropoolregio Amsterdam). It is known for its many monumental farm bui ...

. She started playing guitar in 2007 at the age of fifteen. Half a year later she founded the band Purest of Pain, in which she played lead guitar until its disbandment in 2020. Over the next two years, she began to play in larger, international events and festivals with bands like

Suicide Silence Suicide Silence is an American deathcore band from Riverside, California. The band was established in 2002, and has released six studio albums, three EPs, and nineteen music videos. They were awarded the ''Revolver'' Golden God award for "Bes ...

Unearth Unearth is an American metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 1998, the group has released seven studio albums. History Early career (1998–2002) Unearth was formed by Trevor Phipps, Buz McGrath, Ken Susi, Mike Rudberg, an ...

MaYaN Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

Grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grav ...

All Shall Perish All Shall Perish was an American deathcore band from Oakland, California, formed in 2002. The band was signed to Nuclear Blast and have released four full-length albums through the label. Their final album, '' This Is Where It Ends,'' was releas ...

Delain Delain is a Dutch symphonic metal band formed in 2002 by former Within Temptation keyboardist Martijn Westerholt, intending for the band to be solely a project. Singer Charlotte Wessels was invited to join in 2005. The name of the band comes fr ...

and others. In 2013, she released the single "Momentum" and in 2014 she starred at the large metal festival

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and subgenres of hard rock and metal are ...

Musical acts

At the end of 2012, Bechtold performed her first performance with

. In 2013, for the first time, she filled in for Timo Somers, Delain's main guitarist. During the same period, she performed several concerts with the Purest of Pain group. In October 2014, she was contacted by Isaac Delahaye (

Epica Epica or EPICA may refer to: * Epica (band), a Dutch symphonic metal band * ''Epica'' (Kamelot album), 2003 * ''Epica'' (Audiomachine album), 2012 * The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) * The Epica Awards (International Adver ...

, ex-MaYaN) who had to leave MaYaN for other priorities. She played with two concerts in January 2015 as a replacement. At the second concert, the band asked her to become a permanent member. In the summer of 2014, she became part of

Anneke van Giersbergen Anna Maria "Anneke" van Giersbergen (born 8 March 1973) is a Dutch singer, songwriter and guitarist who became known worldwide as the lead singer for the rock band The Gathering between 1994 and 2007. She also has a solo career. The project wa ...

The Gentle Storm The Gentle Storm is a Dutch musical project by singer and lyricist Anneke van Giersbergen and composer and musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, founder and leader of other musical projects such as Star One, Ayreon, Guilt Machine and Ambeon. The duo ha ...

, with van Giersbergen's husband Rob Snijders. She then played several concerts with

alongside Somers. In 2015, she again accompanied Delain at other concerts with

Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot. History Fourteenth and fifteenth century sabatons typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following fashionable shoe shapes ...

. From October 2015 until June 2019, Bechtold was officially a permanent member of Delain. In 2020 Bechtold formed the

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

/ metalcore band Dear Mother, with David Pear and former Delain member Joey de Boer.

Instruments

Bechtold uses guitars from the Dutch custom guitar shop VanderMeij Guitars, based in Amsterdam. She is mostly seen on stage with her white sevenstring multiscale VanderMeij Magistra. As an amplifier, she uses the ENGL 650,

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guita ...

Signature. For effects use only, Bechtold uses Strymon El Capistan digital tape echo and Octaver Polish Taurus. She uses Ernie Ball strings and Dunlop Jazz plectrums.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bechtold, Merel 1992 births Living people Dutch rock guitarists Rhythm guitarists People from Blaricum 21st-century guitarists Mayan (band) members Delain members 21st-century women guitarists