Queen really churned out the albums back then. This one and Queen II in the same year (and Opera and Races the following two years). Speaking of Queen II, I've noticed something interesting, I'm not sure if it's intentional, but Queen II ends with them singing "I do like to be beside the seaside" and SHA opens with "Brighton Rock" almost as if it's a direct continuation. You could possibly argue too that the opening piano of 'death on two legs' would fade up nicely from the aftermath of the explosion that closes this album. Again though, this could just be me looking for connections that aren't there.
Sheer Heart Attack is definitely it's own thing, 'Brighton Rock' acts as a fantastic mission statement, chugging guitars, soaring vocals, nimble rhythm section, and then a nice big gap for Brian May to wank solo guitar through... all the more impressive because May was apparently quite sick during the recording so the rest of the band worked around him, laying down their parts for him to record over later.
The mystical and medieval lyrical vibes from Queen II are still present in songs like 'Lap of the Gods' and 'Lily of the Valley', but the songs start to lean towards more present-day concerns with tracks like "Flick of the Wrist", "Stone Cold Crazy" and the delicious "Killer Queen", a song that fully announced the Queen 'sound'. Freddie's delicate voice and precise piano, Brian's clean complimentary lead parts, John's fiddly exploratory basslines, Roger's drums that can sit nicely in the back of the song or come charging to the front, and over all of it, those brilliant vocal harmonies with Roger's piercing falsetto sitting just above everyone else.
It's not a wall-to-wall success, "She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos)" is probably my least favourite Queen song, and John Deacon (the songwriting 'secret weapon') hadn't really started firing on all cylinders yet.
With songs like 'Brighton Rock' 'Now I'm Here' and 'Stone Cold Crazy', the band showed that they could rock as hard and deep as acts like Sabbath and Zeppelin, while elsewhere they showed the same love of studio experimentation as Pink Floyd and the Beatles.
The album closes with the song that (until they released 'News of the World' with 'We Will Rock You' and 'We are the Champions') would close their shows for the next few years; the anthemic "Lap of the Gods... Revisited"
I really love the way that the songs segue into each other (they did it to a certain extent with Queen II as well) so you feel more like you're listening to "an album" rather than a random collection of songs, just gives things a touch more cohesion.
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