From the initial choking cough of "Sweet Leaf" through the final thump of "Into the Void" the album is crushing, Black Sabbath playing on a more acid rock or even blues metal vibe, those almost jazzy structures on some of the songs buried under the deafening cacophony of the trio of master players. And that part oh man you probably know what Im talking about. I love the introduction of the second guitar playing the notes of the riff come verse two. For me what makes this Black Sabbaths best album is the overall consistency in the quality of the songwriting and musicianship, the excellent atmosphere, and the lack of sustained laughable moments that seem to dot some of their other releases. Whenever that happened, he would start believing that he wasn't capable of playing the song. Think about it, there is a vast array of emotional variation on all the classic Ozzy-era Sabbath records and Ozzy manages to deliver in a manner that happens to work for each and every style. In a universal sense, this is Sabbaths most metal moment in their original line-up, thought I personally view Sabbath Bloody Sabbath as their overall finest moment. I think it's especially apparent on the solo of the song. But its only 28 seconds long, so Ill give him a break. Hes often the focus of much flak, which in my eyes is most unnecessary like all great singers he deals with emotions not technique. Master of Reality is the third studio album by Black Sabbath, released on July 21st 1971 in both the US and UK. It isn't just Tony dropping great riffs either, After Forever's primary riff is actually an immense bass line from Geezer, while Tony counterparts with chords (I said the entire time, and these chords Shirley can't be insipid). We were going: "What could we write about?" That variant of the Vertigo label was never to be used again thereafter. That aside, Master of Reality is every bit the classic it's been made out to be over the years. Past those four tracks, listeners get sharply contrasting tempos in the rumbling sci-fi tale "Into the Void," which shortens the distances between the multiple sections of the band's previous epics. The booming bass hooking onto the upbeat lead guitars may feel that way at first, but then it drops to a chugging note, eventually winding up in a stomping bridge. Ward elaborated in a 2016 interview with Metal Hammer magazine: "On the first album, we had two days to do everything, and not much more time for Paranoid. And then, the first true instance of the down-tuned guitar by Iommi. Sweet Leaf - Starting off with a looped cough (rumoured to be Tony Iommi after a bong hit), the song kicks off with the signature riff. The ballad and interludes do little for me, though - Sabbath still hadn't found consistency to go with their occasional flashes of sheer fucking bludgeonment. [8] Iommi recalls "We all played 'Sweet Leaf' while stoned. And its a way superior song to Iron Man as well. But Ozzy (Osbourne) would then sing higher so it sort of defeated the object." He uses it in standard tuning for "Black Sabbath," and would later go on to use it in C# standard on "Symptom of the Universe" (though the main riff of "Symptom" can be played in standard) and in D standard on "Zero the Hero." HOWEVER, I have read someplace that "Solitude" was played in D standard, which would make the riff occur in the A position. It is an insight, like Orchid, of what we could expect from Iommi from then on as he set the world ablaze as a songwriter. Not ones to be boxed into one specific sound, the 4 horsemen of Black Sabbath have succeeded once again in both maintaining the hard edged sound that they are pioneered and not repeated themselves. So what else can I say about this album other than it's the best Sabbath record ever? Children of the Grave probably is the best tune of the bunch, being one of the faster songs too. Solitude is certainly similar to Planet Caravan, as they share the same dreamy, wistful feel but emotionally theyre undoubtedly different. The shortest album of Black Sabbath's glory years, Master of Reality is also their most sonically influential work. The music is gentle but brooding, with a melodic and emotional flute played by Iommi. You know what I said earlier about Ozzy's vocals being not technically good? The intro of "After Forever" was given the title "The Elegy", the outro of "Children of the Grave" was called "The Haunting", the intro of "Lord of This World" was titled "Step Up", and the intro of "Into the Void" called "Deathmask". Think about it; all the bands early output is riddled with massively non-metal moments, but this is what makes them so special but of course this gets its detractors, the same fellows who think Hamlet would have been better if Junior had knifed Claudius in Act II rather than soliloquising about the nature of truth and the afterlife youre boring us, William! Again, Sabbath wallows in the bluesy rock that they had on both their debut and Paranoid, however this is the most hard-hitting of all of them. With Tony Iommi tuning down his guitar, they achieved a darker and deeper sound. The album by and large succeeds simply by virtue of still being far heavier than anything else being produced at the time, with songs like Sweet Leaf, Lord of This World, and the thunderous Children of the Grave being particular highlights. This is the album where Sabbath's early sound comes into form, and the possibly the most consistently heavy album of their work with Ozzy. Ozzy's vocals from the Black Sabbath days were, to put it simply, the greatest I have ever heard . Just look at this verse from the song for example: This was no doubt revolutionary but like most things that have the right to own the distinction as first of the kind, it is eventually surpassed in subsequent generations as all of the tools available to make the original will be available and more advanced later on. Even the fun number around smoking the reefer Sweet Leaf dials the rhythms down into darker depths with the minor keys of execution. This led to guitar playing being painful, especially because he occupied the bottom two strings most of all for lower, chunkier riffs. He could bear to tone it down, but this song still isn't bad by any means. Speaking of bad lyrics, the words to After Forever may irritate some listeners. Musically my only minor complaint with the album has to be Bill Wards drumming. It's worth a listen if you want to hear Geezer and Tony at their most subdued (which is not necessarily a bad idea), but there really should have been another proper heavy song here, since we already had two very solid moody interludes with Embryo and Orchid. His very definable voice is undefinable in a single word or phrase . On 'Paranoid', he had reduced the blues elements to an extent where the music was more free-flowing, heavy and gritty, but still maintained a healthy dose of the blues evident on songs like "War Pigs", "Hand of Doom" and "Fairies Wear Boots". What better way to capture such a dark and eruptive disc of what many call the first true doom metal album than with a horror movie figure? Album Review: "Master Of Reality" By Black Sabbath Well don't listen to me because I'm full of shit. And its awesome when he says The soul I took from you was not even missed! The instrumental section of the song sounds particularly inspired, and there is some typically sweet guitar playing by Iommi. It's impossible not to like this album. This one starts on the same type of catchy riff, but when it burns down to a slower boil, it melts everything around it to truly follow through with that message of rocket fuel burning the atmosphere. First are the vocals, the way he ends the lyric lines in the verses of After Forever, or the unbelievably awful delivery during the opening lines for Lord Of This World, which is a song that perfectly represents my second problem. As sacrilegious as I'm sure it is to most people reading this, I also think "Children of the Grave" is a pretty boring track. Like all the things, the sweet leaf that these guys sing of can do some serious damage in excess, and some might argue that Ozzys lack of an ability to speak without stuttering like crazy might be connected to his drug use. His fills during and right after the solo of the song are so incredibly sloppy that it hurts. Without it there would be a gaping void in the collections of metal heads everywhere . Master of Reality is a perfect album by every standard. Side B, which was the information label, was black with white writing instead of white with black writing. Here Tony Iommi began to experiment with tuning his guitar down three half-steps to C#, producing a sound that was darker, deeper, and sludgier than anything they'd yet committed to record. And the riffs fucking hell, the riffs on this album are brilliant, from the groovy grunt of Children of the Grave to the sludge covered monster that is Sweet Leaf to the intricate weaving of Orchid its all great and its all different, and thats another reason why this album is so important in defining the band: the CD exhibits a hugely varied palate of riff styles, from doom, rock, folk, acoustic, psychedelic, to whatever, but theyre all SABBATH riffs, unmistakable in their simplicity and delivery, which is what made them such an important band in bridging the gap between genres at the time. Instrumentals have always been one of Black Sabbath's strongest points. Mans distress so great that he boards a rocket to the sun. Orchid is a nice little ditty to open up Side Two which could have used some expansion, but whatever length, it does not prepare anyone for the menacing swagger of Lord of This World. The drumming has slowed down a bit, and there arent so many jazzy interludes and off-beats thrown in here which again adds to the less busy, more efficient feel this album has, but the most important consequence of this is that the power coming from behind the kit has increased tenfold, complementing the new, groovier style of writing the band have endorsed. . Amazing, amazing song. What a relief! That lyric sucks. Master Of Reality has been voted the greatest Black Sabbath album ever The story behind Black Sabbath's Heaven And Hell For the drummer, this was a major turning point in the way Sabbath were thinking about not only their music, but also about life in general. Here we have Black Sabbath showing an emphasis on slower songs, an approach that the band repeated with the next record, Volume 4. After Forever has a progressive approach to it, with dissimilar sections and all, but that had already been done with Hand Of Doom. The story behind Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality | Louder - loudersound Sabbath have released significantly better albums, including during the Ozzy era, just listen to any other. If you're looking for a doom/stoner metal album with a heavy 70s nostalgia vibe, then "Master of Reality" is an album I highly recommend. And Ozzy was so much better. After this we return to the heavy chug previously established. This was the release that saw the band de-tune their stringed instruments, completing the intent first established the previous year. Not bad, but definitely boring. But even more, it doesn't feel like a concerted effort to be as such. Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality | Releases | Discogs There is also a mellow and quite depressive ballad called "Solitude", as well as some short instrumentals that give 'Master of Reality' a good variety of music, which is a clear indication that there was more to come from Black Sabbath. Ozzy screams and yells, for maybe the most powerful vocal performance of his career, though hints of his signature mechanical, overdubbed vocals appear on Master of Reality. Ever. It adds virtually nothing to the track's mood or groove beyond Bill saying "Look what I can do!" thing I can say about it is that it DOES perfectly represent most of the music herein quite perfectly. He was the ultimate harbinger of doom, second only to the guitar in being the key focal point of Black Sabbath. Interestingly, given the very bleak start to the previous two records, Master of Reality starts off surprisingly cheerfully. It's definitely one of the album's standouts. Given that Master of Reality was the record in which Iommi burdened with most of the writing and the quality really suffers! the thrashy segment on Into the Void. So yeah there are a few problems I might add, spoiling that if I may say so, cool climax of this review, but I gotta say em. Aside from "Sweet Leaf," much of Master of Reality finds the band displaying a stronger moral sense, in part an attempt to counteract the growing perception that they were Satanists. You wont find a heavier record for 1971, but the main point is you wont find a better one, either! Necessity in the sense that Tony Iommis injury to his hand, which occurred before Sabbath recorded their first album, required him to further down tune his guitar in order to reduce the resistance of the strings. The thick dank perfect tone of the guitar is one the stuff legends are made of . 2 and not only are there just 2 they are laughably simplistic and not even creative. . What he lacks in an actual singing-voice, he makes up with charisma that he seems to be able to pull from his ass at any given time. I lost count of how many times I found myself saying things like thats Black Label Society thats Church of Misery thats Cathedral thats Pantera thats Reverend Bizarre but what really surprised me were the less obvious parallels that can be drawn between this CD and some pretty unexpected bands: there were moments of fucking hell, what is an Akercocke riff doing on here? and at one point (and Im not even too sure I believe myself on this) but I swear I could have made a genuine comparison between Master of Reality and Rotten Sound. mainly because Ozzy Osbourne is able to really showcase his ability to be very calm and cool but he's doing it in such a subtle manner. As for Bill Ward he delivers, like on the previous albums, another excellent performance. BLACK SABBATH - Master of Reality (Full Album) - YouTube Also, I must add, the second half of that album is just as good, with the one-two slow punches of Electric Funeral and Hand of Doom, the latter about the damage PTSD does to war veterans and details the story of one who resorts to heroin. So no, there is not a time for peace and it is too late. This is in no way a put down to those great albums as they all mean just as much to me as any of those six other releases, it's just that one album in particular has always stood out as the undisputed heavy weight champion of the world in an early discography peppered with undisputed heavy weight champ's, and that album is Master of Reality . Butler is a fantastic bass player with a speedy right hand and adds something of a groovy funk to the proceedings. Driving this in even harder, that leaves two other dense bangers that hold the same weight but go a different direction. Like the debut album, Master of Reality deserves props simply because it introduced the world to a brand new sound which launched a whole subgenre or two of metal. The middle sections of the majority of the tunes are also filled with decently long instrumental sections, filled with nice riffs and solos. Lyrical themes are varied. (This trick was still being copied 25 years later by every metal band looking to push the limits of heaviness, from trendy nu-metallers to Swedish deathsters.) In less than two whole years the band had already released three very impressive records that, despite not sitting well with music critics at the time, blew the fans of heavy music away. And although the alternately sinister and jaunty "Lord of This World" is sung from Satan's point of view, he clearly doesn't think much of his own followers (and neither, by extension, does the band). He rides the cymbals and obliterates his drum kit like a man on a mission possessed by every inner demon that has dared to try and torment him . Black Sabbath's third album was their heaviest most uncompromising effort yet, and arguably of their entire output with Ozzy at the helm. I hear people call it Sabbath's heaviest record of their career all the time, and for sure when it was released it was, but of all time? (Like Dark Fucking Angel, the expletive denotes heaviness and must be used at all times.) With Master of Reality, we get the most ambitious Sabbath release. that God is the only way to love For this metal head the answer would be their first six albums: Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality, Volume 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage respectively . Geezer's accomplishment's besides his song writing abilities are in his perfect instinctual deliverance of his bass lines that round out the unbelievable groovy heavy riffs of Toni Iommi . If you play the guitar parts to Lord of this World and Into the Void through a modern sounding distortion setting, you will have something equally as heavy as what the likes of Pantera and Metallica were doing in the early 90s, although it is far more musical in my view in the case of Sabbath. Almost indescribably perfect, it has, along with all of Sabbath's efforts around this time, defined the sound and tone that changed the face of heavy music . The execution is so wonderful that you forget how simplistic and monotone a lot of this track is, and it goes on for just the right amount of time. Black Sabbath and especially Master of Reality was a huge influence of the 1990s stoner rock / Desert Rock scenes in the UK and the US, bands like Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Sleep, and Orange Goblin have cited Sabbath and Master of Reality as a defining album of that genre. This music is more Sabbathy than ever before, and damn its good. Where is the adventurous songwriting? Bereft even of reverb, leaving their sound as dry as old bones dug up from some desert burial plot, the finished music's brutish force would so alarm the critics they would punish Sabbath in print for being blatantly thuggish, purposefully mindless, creepy, and obnoxious. Nope Just back to that single riff repeated until you loathe its very existence and those awful vocals. One more notable thing at play about Into the Void is Geezers stern bass . Black Sabbath has released so many other albums since then, and while they've since disbanded, that doesn't mean that their work can't live on. There's stuff here that's haunting (Into the Void) thought-provoking (Children of the Grave) controversial (After Forever) and poignant (Solitude). For me, it has always been an album with very few truly low points, but not really any shining highlights either. The early 70s were a ripe time for Sabbath as they were churning out classic albums left and right. All of the first six Sabbath albums contain this amazing feel for the music that he had but this one album in particular is his defining moment as the greatest heavy metal singer of all time . Just magical. These tracks are pleasing to the ears, but I will admit that they are the lone weak link on this album as they dont seem to serve much purpose and sort of throw off the albums structure. The album's other signature song, "Children of the Grave," is driven by a galloping rhythm that would later pop up on a slew of Iron Maiden tunes, among many others. It is noteworthy also to note the radically short amount of time that passed in between the first 3 albums, as it is pretty much unheard of today for any band to put out 3 albums in two years. Come on, it has cowbell! As usual Geezer is on fire, anchoring the songs with heavy notes, often playing awesome ascending and descending lines (especially in the first two songs), and just generally fitting in flawlessly with whatever Iommi is doing. Here Tony Iommi began to experiment with tuning his guitar down three half-steps to C#, producing a sound that was darker, deeper, and sludgier than anything they'd yet committed to record. "Children of the Grave" and "Lord of This World" go for a more epic and upbeat tone, which are further executed with the uplifting guitars and ecstatic drumming.