Despite never achieving commercial success, the band is often credited – alongside Exodus, Testament, Forbidden, Death Angel and Vio-lence – as one of the leaders of the Bay Area thrash metal scene of the mid-to-late 1980s,[1][2][3] and they have gone through several lineup changes, leaving guitarist Lee Altus as the only constant member.

Shortly after their first gig in 1985, Kress and Sanguinetti left the group and were replaced by vocalist David White (formerly of Blind Illusion) and guitarist Doug Piercy (formerly of Anvil Chorus and Control).

Their early style could be described as the aggression of thrash metal combined with NWOBHM-style vocals and arrangements, acoustic intros or outros, and fast-paced melodic shred solos.

Shortly after their signing Eric Wong left the band to join Piranha, and was replaced on bass by former Griffin guitarist Mike "Yaz" Jastremski.

The album was well received critically and featured one very successful single, a cover of the 1970s glam rock band Sweet's song "Set Me Free".

The band embarked on a tour in support of the album, which included a series of dates with Megadeth, King Diamond, Testament, Exodus, Savatage, Zoetrope, Dark Angel and Lizzy Borden, among others.

In order to record their album Victims of Deception, Heathen recruited Blind Illusion mainman Marc Biedermann to play bass in the studio.

The band's cover of Rainbow's "Kill the King" and original ballad "Prisoners of Fate" were released as singles and had minor rock radio airplay.

Heathen reunited in 2001, its lineup comprising David White, Lee Altus, Ira Black, Mike Jastremski and Darren Minter, to play the Thrash of the Titans benefit concert to help Chuck Billy and Chuck Schuldiner raise funds for Billy's throat cancer treatment and Schuldiner's brain cancer treatment.

In November 2007, the band recruited Prototype guitarist Kragen Lum and Mark Hernandez to replace Darren Minter and Lauderdale respectively.

[6][7] Heathen played at the Rock Hard Festival in Germany 2009 and later supported Testament, Exodus, and Kreator at Thrash Domination in Kawasaki, Japan.

This flyer was available at the merchandise table during the European Bay Strikes Back tour featuring Testament, Exodus and Death Angel.

[19] Shortly before the release of Empire of the Blind, guitarist Kragen Lum mentioned that Heathen could work on a fifth album in 2021: "Every band on the planet is gonna want a tour next year.