The obscure band The Shiver from St. Gallen in Switzerland emerged in 1967 from the ashes of the beat band The Shivers, in which guitarist Dany Ruehle and drummer Roger Maurer had once played together. With bassist Mario Conza from Ticino, the trio began composing their own songs and performing at festivals. In 1968, keyboardist Jelly Pastorini joined the band, and the quartet went on to win first prizes at various music festivals. When they were offered a record contract by German label Maris Musik, they found a lead singer in the Englishman Peter Robinson, who completed the line-up.

Following a promotional single, they recorded their debut album Walpurgis at Soundcraft Studio in Biel in January 1969. It was released in May with a spectacular cover design by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger. The album features both interesting cover versions and original compositions in a varied mix of beat, blues rock, organ-heavy psychedelic rock and proto-progressive hard rock. However, by the end of 1969 the band split up due to musical differences. Their first and only LP, released on the tiny Maris Musik label in a reportedly run of just 1,000 to 2,000 copies, is legendary among collectors, extremely rare and now hardly affordable.