I can't promise this will be too much help, but I iwll give it a shot... First and foremost I'll have to tell you that I am not a fan of Fender. At least not their electrics, but their acoustics seem to hold up pretty well from what I've played on. 1500 bucks will definitely get your father what he needs in my opinion. All of the names you mentioned should do well, and I am particularly fond of anything Peavey, especially the wolfgang series of guitars, and the express 112 amp. The amp is not too big, but its big enough to be loud if it needs it, has its own built-in distortion that when set right (low and high set all the way up and mid all the way down) sounds exactly like the dist. in Dream THeater's Scenes from a memory... But thats if that's what you're going for. THe Peavey Wolfgang is Van Halen's custom model, so there should be no question as to its playability.
What it really boils down to, is that your father should (if your guitar store has them) play on several different electrics to find the one that he wants. There are too many kinds of guitars and kinds of guitarists for anyone to say that he should play this one or the other ... but it I think it would be good for anyone trying out an electric to try the famous Les Pauls, try the less expensive but definitely player friendly Ibanez, try a jackson, the peavey mentioned above, and really any kind that he finds appealing, he should try it.
And might I add that that's awesome your dad will play In Flames Stuff, becasue some of their songs are gorgeous... You might want to show him the intro to Dark Tranquility's "Insanity's Cescendo" for that is a very pretty piece, and well... Opeth is just pretty.
I hope this helped in some form or another, and if you have any questions regarding this babble or anything else feel free to ask, I'll try to help.
Ah yes, amps, i left them out.... Most of them will have distorion built in,some don't, this again should be considered according to the probability of your dad's using it. Like I said I prefer the Peavey Sound as its relatively affordable and good enough to make my picky self happy... However, my dream set up would be what John Petrucci (Dream Theater) Really used, which was a Mesa Boogie stack and head, which can get you any sound that you want, if you can go through all the knobs and set it up right... but thats only if you get into the electric enough, for starting I reccomend you go for something simple and easy... Again, depends on your local guitar store, and what they have to let you play on, and again, i recommend, and feel it necessary to make sure he tries it out before anything is bought.
Good luck, and Rock On
