Sheer Heart Attack Queen

This was the moment Queen married the rawness of the first 2 albums with the songwriting of later classics. They were not the same before or after and that makes this a special release. The songwriting and incredible musicianship on this album is awe inspiring! What other band could have ever pulled this off with such honesty and integrity? They were young and bold and at last found their sound, which makes this so inspirational. You can sense the youthful vibrancy, and an innocence not found on later releases after superstardom hit. And that superstardom came with their very next release. My favorite of all Queen releases, this is special.

Sheer Heart Attack is a brilliant tour-de-force that married the progressive rock of Queen II with a pop sensibility, allowing Queen to reach a much broader audience. Killer Queen was the album's big hit and provides the template used to much success in A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. Queen's first five albums always began with an all-out rocker, and Brighton Rock, with its fierce guitar solo, does not disappoint. Like Opera and Races, this album is a contains a diverse array of styles. The first half emphasizes rock, with Roger Taylor's Tenement Funster seguing into Killer Queen B-side Flick of the Wrist, followed by the second single Now I'm Here. The second half (side 2) begins and ends with In the Lap of the Gods, featuring Queen's vocal chorus of overdubs from Freddie Mercury, Brian May, and Roger Taylor. Speed metal rocker Stone Cold Crazy follows before decelerating into ballad Dear Friends. Pop gem Misfire, John Deacon's first Queen composition, follows. Bring Back Leroy Brown is one of Queen's more successful stabs at the music hall tradition, and is infinitely better than stabs at a similar sound on Night of the Opera. She Makes Me is an acoustic guitar (overdubbed many times) driven pop gem. In sum, this is one of the best albums of the glam rock era.

a great bridge joining their heavier roots to the versatility and more accessible approach of the rest of their career. my favorite Queen release as well as my favorite album ever from 40+ years of being a music listener

The pace Queen was growing at was incredible. On Sheer Heart Attack, the gifts and talents of the individuals began to coalesce better than ever. More mainstream and less progressive than their first two records, Sheer Heart Attack molds the raw sound of those first two albums into a more refined classic sound and the results show Queen was truly finding itself as individuals and especially as a group. The strength as a collective unit would serve the band well its entire career, but this is where they first unified their unique vision. Key tracks are Brighton Rock, Killer Queen, Now I'm Here, Stone Cold Crazy, and In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited.

Moving away from the prog themes featured on the first two albums, the band decided to go with a more conventional pop-rock approach with Sheer Heart Attack, starting to build their more well known sound. Released just a couple of months after Queen II, this album finds the band at it's greatest moment.
"Brighton Rock" is a hell of a opener, featuring one of the greatest (if not the best) Brian May's guitar solos; and it sets the direction the band would start to go, with more theatricality and camp being present on their compositions.
Who would've thought that a cabaret sounding song about a high class prostitute would become a hit single? Well, that's not surprise if the song comes from Queen, and here they show why they were masters of pop, a role they mastered in just three albums.
A medley comes next, starting with "Tenement Funster"; that may be (after "These Are the Days of Our Lives") the best solely writen song by Roger Taylor in Queen's discography. It continues with "Flick of the Wrist", Queen's first hate letter to a manager, that shows Mercury was not only a gifted singer but also an amazing songwriter. The medley finishes with "Lily of the Valley, a sort of sequel to "Seven Seas of Rhye" that, though simple, the vocals by Freddie make it a beautiful listen.
I couldn't care less about Mott the Hoople, but thank's to those dudes we have "Now I'm Here", a great single recalling the tour with the aforementioned band.
"In the Lap of the Gods" is a surreal song with a lot of experimentation that actually makes sense. The distorted vocals make this track so interesting and memorable.
Before trash metal even existed, we had "Stone Cold Crazy". With a fast tempo and heavy distortion, this attemp of Queen at doing punk music influentied the becoming of speed metal.
"Dear Friends" is one of the two little 'missteps' that this album has, is not bad but certainly deflates the album a little bit.
What is not a misstep is "Misfire", the first song for the band writen by John Deacon. With obvious sexual innuendos, the song is a display of Deacon's talent as a guitarist and a great start as a songwriter.
"Bring Back That Leroy Brown" is the best vaudevillian tune the band did. Featuring an ukelele, double bass and a honky-tonk piano, the song is pure fun; but it make take you a few listenings for truly appreciate it, because it sounds very cheesy tbh.
The other low point in the album is "She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)", that is too repetitive, maybe if it was just two minutes it would've been an stronger track.
The album ends with "In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited". Despite the name, it doesn't sounds like the other song, and sounds even better. This was the band's first attempt at doing a sing-along tune, in the same style as Champions or Rock You, and IMO this track beats them by a long shot. Ending with an explosion, this track is the perfect finale for an almost perfect album and the best work of the band.
Final rating: 9.7/10

And behold, Queen found their sound. You might not love every track on here, but you can't help but admire the power, passion, and skill within each falsetto, dynamic change, or guitar break. This is one hell of a powerhouse.

For their 3rd album, Queen partly stick to the formula of Queen II (progressive epics made of rather unfinished songs), but at the same time focused on tight songwriting indicating the direction for their next album : fiercy hard rock from May (Brighton Rock and Now I’m Here) and camp flamboyance from Mercury (the perfect Killer Queen).

Queen had presence to go along with their ability, and that's why they have remained such an important band to other bands. Over the years they would blur the lines of rock and pop, but this is probably their best out and out rock album. Maybe even arguably their best.

I had a little prejudice with queen, but a friend of mine said that she loved this album, she said it with such certainty that I even decided to listen, probably one of the best decisions of my life, this album made me realize that queen is much better than than I imagined, thanks sophia!

There’s not a weak moment on this album, all killer songs from start to finish. This album covers so many styles such as pretty balladry on “Lily Of The Valley”, an early example of thrash on “Stone Cold Crazy”, and music hall on “Bring Back That Leroy Brown” and is successful in it, miraculously. Each member also gets their chance to shine with Roger writing the great “Tenement Funster”, Brian’s crazy solo on “Brighton Rock”, Freddie’s famous “Killer Queen”, and John’s first song in “Misfire”, to name a few. In my opinion this is the most consistent Queen album and the best starting place for any New fan of the band.