Hellanbach, whom some members of the British music press nicknamed 'Halen-bach', formed in Newcastle in 1979 and were one of many New Wave of British Heavy Metal acts to find themselves a home with the North East of England-based label Neat Records. The band obtained some enthusiastic followers in their region of the country and stood out as having one of the most technically gifted guitarists of the movement in Davey Patton, who was compared by most of the British press to Eddie Van Halen.