Queen A Kind of Metal

Queen began as a 70's era hard-rock band but gradually evolved as musicians and with the times.

By the late 70's Queen did songs that had a Disco feel, like Another One Bites the Dust. This would have been the first Queen song we ever heard. It was cool when you were eight.

By the Mid-80's, as Heavy Metal grew in prominence, Queen returned to it's hard-rock roots and even sounded kind of metal. 

Which is why when we were a teenager we kind of thought of Queen as a hard-rock/metal band. 

Queen did three songs which stood out to us as  not only metal, but have parts that border on thrash.

The first is 1989's I want it all, (lead starts at 2:20) Here the drums thunder in 3/4 time and May shreds.

The next, going back to the Iron Eagle/Highlander soundtrack is Gimmie the Prize. May opens with an ascending riff, then pounding power-chords. The lead (3:10) sounds a bit like the Flash Gordon soundtrack and brings images to mind of the cavalry coming to the rescue.

For us, the best of these metal tracks is 1991's Innuendo. The lead starts at (4:40). Drums and guitar combine to make the band sound almost like Metallica.

Note the importance of Roger Taylor's drumming, he just hammers at the listener.