Hellanbach was one of the many New Wave of British Heavy Metal era bands from the NWOBHM “hot bed” around the north east of England all those years ago. And one of the many who were touted as the next big thing without that becoming reality.
I’d forgotten all about them until them cropping up in conversation with a mate a few days ago which set me off on a hunt for their albums as I remembered there were two from the early 1980s before the band split. That Hellanbach hunt ended with me finding the Big H: The Anthology double CD.
Based with the blazing guitar talents of Dave Patton’s guitar, which was arguably unfairly, compared with Eddie Van Halen though there are similarities, their self-financed four track EP whilst a bit rough a ready would attract the attention of Neat Records and a recoding deal was signed.
Being based in the north east along with the likes of Raven, White Spirit etc. it was pretty much a given that Hellanbach would sign with Neat.
A debut album – Now Hear This – appeared in 1983 with generally positive reviews and perhaps the Van Halen similarities are a little more than obvious. That said, the debut is a powerful listen full of muscular, fast-past rockers with huge riffs, chords, scorching solos and a big, big sound in general.
A follow up album – The Big H – appeared in 1984 which was in a similar big style though didn’t make much of a mark. Arguably a bigger label than Neat may have had the muscle and budget to promote the band wider. However all that is ancient history now.
Plenty more to them in addition to that big guitar. Sure – that’s the main selling point though build in generally powerful vocals with some melody and a thumping rhythm section they certainly had the chops to go places and break out of the general NWOBHM pack.
Have a listen to Let’s Get This Show on the Road:
Plenty more to them in addition to that big guitar. Sure – that’s the main selling point though build in generally powerful vocals with some melody and a thumping rhythm section they certainly had the chops to go places and break out of the general NWOBHM pack.
This anthology over the two CDs and 27 tracks is a thumping listen of what Hellanbach had to offer – and that was far more than the swaggering, flashy guitar work and a daft name with the play on words.
The four tracks of the debut EP are all here demonstrating much raw talent. All sorts of other stuff is here too showing how good they were with those two albums as well.