Queen II (studio album) by Queen

Great Queen album which is overshadowed by the famous albums which delivered the hits. I have a copy which is a disc of black vinyl and disc of white vinyl which correlates with the 'chess theme'.

From VictorVale 03/10/2023 12:04

Queen já lapidava sua assinatura.

I think this album goes largely under rated due to the huge rock anthems the group would go on to create in the future. There is so much quality on this record with the performances being one of the major driving forces of this. All 4 members of the group are brilliant on here but the show is stolen primarily by Brian May on guitar and Mercury's vocal. The two of them are a true powerhouse of rock music and I don't think the have sounded more raw or grittier than on this release. The power they put into this just seems so passionate and full of love for the art of making music. This leads to some progressive masterpieces but also some absolutely beautiful and delicate moments such as on Nevermore which is simply sensational. Some of the solos we get from May are brilliant as well with Ogre Battle and The March Of The Black Queen being the standouts for me. I can definitely see the argument that the first half is a little weaker than the second especially with the song The Loser In The End which really does not fit on this album at all. Overall, I think this is Queen's most consistent album in terms of style and quality with it displaying the range of the whole group while keeping the music focused and also making it a lot of fun to listen to.

Prog Queen is great

It ends much better than it starts, but overall it's still quite underwhelming for me. Mix is bad, singing very good as always with Freddie, and guitar work is maybe the best thing about it.

From Jboy56 12/10/2021 12:12

This album is largely forgotten in the media and radio. An album of many sides and genres mixed well.
The Dr. May guitar sound is already there.
White Queen is damn rear prog.
Recommended.

pretty incredible hard-driving sing along rock and roll

The cover is great but everything goes downhill from there. Some excellent playing, interesting production but it's all a prog/metal over the top mess with weak to no songs. What exactly is Father to Son about? The lyrics are the worst! A very dated combination of Tolkein gibberish and cole's notes Shakesepeare.

The whole idea with white and black side doesn't really work, the album is so unbalanced. There are some great moments in the black side, but I would skip the white side without much hesitation. Overall, 70/100.

Fantastic album from Queen Nevermore is incredible!!