Ogre Battle (song)

Ogre Battle (song)

"Ogre Battle" is a song by British rock band Queen. Composed by lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, it is the sixth track on their second studio album Queen II, recorded on August 1973 at Trident Studios, London.

Mercury first composed the song in 1972 but Queen put off recording the song for their debut album because they wanted more studio freedom to perfect the song which, because of their debut album's hectic recording schedule, they didn't have.

The song is considered to be one of Queen's heaviest works with its loud heavy metal guitar riff composed by Mercury on guitar but played by guitarist Brian May on the recording, the song also contains thrash metal-like drumming performed by drummer Roger Taylor. The song opens with the songs ending gong but played in reverse which creates a building wave sound, this opening eventually evolves into the songs signature guitar riff. Mercury performs "Ogre like" screams and May performs sound effects with his guitar in an attempt to recreate the sounds of a large battle. Taylor performs the high harmonies at the end of the chorus hook.

The song was a longtime live favourite, although in this case, it was played more slowly than in the studio. Queen played it at almost every concert until around 1977-78.

A different version of "Ogre Battle" exists, recorded in December 1973 for the BBC Radio 1 "Sound of the 70s" programme. This version starts right away with its riff (without any long intro), does not have any effects that the version on "Queen II" has and sounds much less polished. The BBC version of "Ogre Battle" did originally have a long intro featuring a grand guitar build up; it was not used for this release, allegedly because the original tape was damaged.

Many consider it to be one of the first or at least a precursor to speed metal.