Sheer Heart Attack released in 1974 39 minutes long Rating: 9.0

Guitars, guitars and guitars.

A roller-coaster of emotions

Tireless recording and mixing

Varying genres is always a good way to refresh our art perception device. And if you are like me, progressive music is always on my daily dose of songs - which might get in the way if you wish for a broader discography panorama. So, only recently I got to sit down, listen to "Sheer Heart Attack" from Queen and appreciate the amount of details put into this record.Having listened to the album for a couple times now, some aspects of this record changed my perception of Queen.I've always heard how well Brian May could sing with guitar wires - and that was one performance I was lucky to see live here in Rio de Janeiro back in 2016* - but never spent some time to analyse the studio recordings. And this album in specific shows us flexibility in timbre and instrumentation: In the track "Bring back that Leroy Brown", Brian May plays banjolele and Deacon the acoustic bass for a moment. Following, "She makes me (Stormtropper in Stilletos)" has both playing acoustic guitars. Not only May imposed his guitar licks on their own mono quality, but found how essential it was to the listener to perceive those guitar duels on the stereo experience. Widely accepted as a hard rock record, Queen's third studio album again shamelessly announced the symbiotic approach of vocals, guitars, and panning.*although at the time I thought the minutes long Brian May solo quite exaustingA non-linear energy distribution on the album might be a disaster, but a well crafted roller coaster can show in a short amount of time the emotional palette a band can offer. The album contains songs of extremely distant vibes: the melancholic side A "Lily of the Valley" comes right before the sudden dramatic scream and instrumentation of side B "In the Lap of Gods" (unless you're listening on vinyl, of course).This constant variation of temperature prevents monotonicity, drawing extra attention of the listener to the guitar and drum fills and backing vocals that often succeed lead vocals. Far from being a dull album, "Sheer Heart Attack" entertains any listener of classic rock.Not only were Queen members good singers, instrumentalists and musicians (more generally speaking), but effort put into mixing was as surreal as the ideas that would pop into their minds in terms of phrases, fills and riffs. Not only that, tracks were godly equalized. I could not find the original mix audio online to know for sure, but it might be the remastered 2011 edition too. Much of the work put into refinement comes from Brian in the end of the production phase - delayed due to the fact that he contracted hepatitis and stomach ulcer.