That is it. 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 is the ultimate metal drummer on this, not by showing off his talent (although talent he does have) or by being overly technical but instead with utter unhindered go for the throat ferociousness . This is not just merely an album, it is a guide book for those bands that would seek to play any form of heavy music . An ironic sudden shift in tone and style ( la The Straightener, Symptom Of the Universe or Johnny Blade)? In fact, it's probably Sabbath's best ballad full stop. So when I write listenable, mind you, it is only at the expense of being generous. Planet Caravan slows things down, before picking it all back up with Iron Man, another contender for best riff ever. This is, and will probably continue to be, an inspiriting factor in someone picking up a guitar for the first time and forming a band, or the key to unlocking metal for someone who previously had not been able to appreciate it. The truth is that you can fast forward through most of this album and not miss anything spectacular, ninety percent of it is totally dispensable and the other ten percent just doesn't matter. 2. And now we simply have the greatest metal song in history. This is easily Sabbath's heaviest album, and still one of the heaviest albums EVER made. In 1971 the band released 'Master of Reality'. Everybody in the underground knows Sweet Leaf and Children of the Grave but is anybody as sick of them as they are of War Pigs and Iron Man? It was certified double platinum after having sold over two million copies. Master of Reality truly exploits a massive range of emotions in its eight tracks (Only six of which even have vocals!). This song proves that the Sabs were hardly the droopy gothic Satanists that history portrays them as. It's apocalyptic. Master of Reality Black Sabbath. This, to me, is the first cohesive CD they put out. Where the first album was built mostly upon a non-conventional approach to structure, and the second one mainly played off of technical intrigue, this album is more straight-forward in structure and focuses on heaviness more than anything else. the thrashy segment on Into the Void. Absolutely recommended to every metalhead out there. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. Time to get with Reality! He is the unrelenting driving force and the ultimate backbone that keeps this album moving so perfectly . Its perhaps the finest Black Sabbath ballad ever and its so perfectly understated and sincere. There is even more debate as to which of their albums should be classified as the beginning of metal or even as to what albums were considered to be the first metal masterpieces . That's where the classical music influence comes in handy. The result? But the 7 other albums had diversity, MoR just plods along, each song riding one or two riffs through their entirety. The doom/stoner instruments lead to some incredible riffs, the vocals only enhance it with Ozzy's extravagant vocals, and the diverse lyrical themes make the verses subtle and down-to-earth. It never gets in the way, and that is pretty impressive a feat in itself. For much of the album Iommi showcases a newly developed, sludgier, downtuned guitar sound which seems to have influenced just as many stoner metal guitarists as his work on the band's first two albums set the playbook for doom metal guitar. The guitar is obviously the most important instrument of this album; Tony Iommi dominates everything here with his amazing riffs really shining. Both of these records laid down the foundation to what we know as heavy metal; basically evil sounding and aggressive blues. The opening track, Sweet Leaf, is an transparent ode to marijuana. Unashamedly so, meaning that people assume because youre a Sabbath fan you spend all your time drawing skeletons on your school work, not that you dont, its just youve other hobbies, too. Ozzy, and his back catalogue, have become accessible. He also goes completely insane in the middle of Sweet Leaf (along with everyone else), laying down blistering drum lines. The mid-song breakdown takes the form of one of Sabbath's trademark 'band solos' before returning to the sludgy riffing of before. beautiful and brilliant. "Black Sabbath" Into the Void is my favorite song on the album, maybe even my favorite all-time Black Sabbath song (although War Pigs is hard to beat). I took out this cigarette packet, and as you opened it, it's got on the lid: "it's the sweetest leaf that gives you the taste" I was like: "Ah, Sweet Leaf!" *cough cough* Upon listening to Master of Reality, it is immediately apparent that this album is a darker, heavier affair than the first 2 Black Sabbath albums. 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 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. 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 . People love shitting on Changes but at least it sticks to Sabbath's theme of depression and sorrow. [8] The downtuning also helped the guitarist produce what he called a "bigger, heavier sound". Ozzy emphasizes his words more than in previous releases, and his shouting gives him a raging personality that is fantastic at leading in the listener. "[28] A critic for the magazine cited it as "the most cohesive record of [the band's] first three albums. I think it's especially apparent on the solo of the song. So no, there is not a time for peace and it is too late. With the exception of Solitude, every song is a masterpiece, and I have a hell of a lot of fun listening to this record. "Children of the Grave" posits a stark choice between love and nuclear annihilation, while "After Forever" philosophizes about death and the afterlife in an openly religious (but, of course, superficially morbid) fashion that offered a blueprint for the career of Christian doom band Trouble. This is what being a heavy metal guitar player is all about, ripping it up no matter what tries to stop you. My life was empty, forever on a down The free-flowing heaviness and grittiness of 'Paranoid' was amplified through the deeper, simpler and more aggressive riffs. Solitude is a slow and solemn song that takes the listener down into a deep abyss. "[citation needed], Butler, the band's primary lyricist, had a Catholic upbringing,[8] and the song "After Forever" focuses entirely on Christian themes. Note that the timing of "Orchid" on revised US pressings is incorrect: it includes the "Step Up" introductory section of "Lord of This World." The guitar is so smooth and sorrowful, whilst the bass emphasises the melancholy of the song's themes. On 'Master of Reality' however, Iommi decided to down-tune his guitar (Geezer's bass followed suit) and began writing more straight-forward, aggressive riffs and voila! 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. It just feels natural. Prog elements had also been injected to the classic sophomore album. With most rock bands and indeed metal bands ballads are just attempts at making a single and cracking into a wider audience (which is perhaps what you can accuse Changes of). 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. This is one of the Sabbath songs where you get the impression that the band is actually comprised of a few guys who can kick some ass, the terrified and helpless hero of "Black Sabbath" replaced by a guy who can grab Satan by the neck and tear his soul out ("the soul I took you from you was not even missed"). On this album he shows what an accomplished (and to an extent underrated) drummer he really is. Sabbath like most 1960's and 1970's bands were influenced heavily by the blues masters of old and up until Master of Reality this influence was peppered throughout their releases . Theres something about this release that feels unique and fresh as it probably did back in the 70s. It was dark and devilish..pioneering. To talk about a Black Sabbath CD without reference to the bands story and their influence on the genre is a pretty difficult task, because it is when you listen to albums like Master of Reality that the ENTIRE groundplan of metal magically begins to unfold before you like a scene out of National Treasure (if National Treasure were a better film). 'Embryo' is an eerie violin observation that may have worked well to space out the album's first side were it not so aimless. [citation needed] Negatively received by critics on release, the album is now considered one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time. How do I rank it? This is obviously due to studio magic and vocal effects but it is so incredibly different that it led to oft-repeated falsehood that Bill Ward sang the song. This song might be his worst work across his entire Sabbath career. Children of the Grave probably is the best tune of the bunch, being one of the faster songs too. The band were seen at the forefront of the hard rock movement, along with other bands such as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. So I can see how this song would be more of a relaxed fair, its slight swing makes it excusable. Master of Reality was probably the first metal album that I could consider high art. Perhaps. The previous two records amped up a blues influence that made them so heavy but Master of Reality is where an inadvertent incorporation of classic music comes into play when it comes to the mechanics. Also, the opener this is one of the weakest of the "essential" Sabbath songs, if not the weakest. Heh. The song takes an accusatory Christian stance against hypocrisy and doubt but this is no sermon. The first side alone, you have the epic anti-Vietnam War Pigs, which has some of the best riffs and musical passages known to man - that DUN DUN! They maybe had more iconic songs on Paranoid, and became much more diverse on Vol 4, or more proggy on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and the criminally underrated Sabotage, but when it comes to delivering the best of the best, Black Sabbath only needed about 30 - 35 minutes of material to not only birth doom, sludge and stoner metal, but to further their musical development and evolution. Overall, riffs are as strong as ever. This song is downright happier than anything else they had recorded at the time, and Ozzy especially sounds more confident than ever as he shouts out his lyrics. This is the one that did it first and arguably, this is the one that did it, and is still doing it, best. But more importantly, the dark and heavy sound will smack you harder if you are a fan of rock music from the late 60s and early 70s. It rides a below-average riff into the ground and is just too late-60s-rockish for me it does not crushingly advance the cause of heavy metal like the totally evil Black Sabbath (from another album you may have heard of) or the previously mentioned Into the Fucking Void, which is just brutal. The guitar and bass sound on this very album is nothing less than perfection defined . The whole section just has wild, spontaneous smashing across the whole thing. Most of all, the band are on point throughout this album, especially the rhythm section. He just whines his monotonous voice all across the track as if he just couldn't care to try. Much of the heaviness found on this album owes to a combination of necessity and purpose. This release saw the band exploring more doom metal structures as well as an even heavier sound that would give birth to the stoner rock/metal movement. It's definitely one of the album's standouts. This is most notable on the simply perfect "Lord of this World" "Children of the Grave" Sweet Leaf" and "Into the Void" although it is evident in every heavy masterpiece on Master of Reality . Sabbath have released significantly better albums, including during the Ozzy era, just listen to any other. As Mr. Iommi would call it, Master of Reality has elements of light and shade. Lyrical themes are varied. Whether youre looking at the Lord of this World doom chugs, the proto-power metal After Forever, or the ambient Solitude, every song has a legendary status with influences heard in multiple demographics. (Studio Outtake - Intro With Alternative Guitar Tuning) 03:42 (loading lyrics.) 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. will aggravate those who pay attention, so I advise just immersing yourself in the riffs and letting them flow over you, because musically speaking the song is still a treat - yet another showcase for Iommi's fuzzy riffs, with the repetitive structure set against Ozzy's chantlike vocals giving the song a hypnotic quality. I don't know which 1971 song was written down first but Sweet Leaf's rhythm structure has a commonality with Black Dog by Led Zeppelin. (Like Dark Fucking Angel, the expletive denotes heaviness and must be used at all times.) A fragment of Iommi's coughing was later added by producer Bain as the intro to "Sweet Leaf," a song which was admittedly an ode to marijuana use. Such a concept is obvious heresy but makes some sense if you squint hard enough at it. "Lord of this World" and its intro "Orchid" are the true standouts on this record. The first editions of Master of Reality came in an 'envelope sleeve' containing a poster of the band, and with the album's title embossed in black lettering, visible in relief. This is the same band who managed to snag a perfect visual representation on their debut by having one of the best album sleeves in all of music history, yet just two albums later we get artwork with just the title and nothing else. Although it shares the same style of sludgy riffs and over-the-top occult atmosphere with much of Sabbath's work up to this point, it stands out for its relatively intense rhythm, a gallop that would later be mirrored in Maiden's work. For more information, including other credits, articles, and images, please go her. Oh, and, I should mention: the fucking riffs on this album, and indeed on this song, are some of the best ever recorded. His detuned bass (relatively matching Iommi's tuning) lends a heaviness to the album not seen in other bands around the time. Some early German, US and Canadian pressings had the title incorrectly printed on the record labels as 'Masters Of Reality'. It isnt until Sabbath Bloody Sabbath that to me his drumming is no longer odd at best, laughable at worst. For me, "After Forever" is definitely the worst track on the entire record. A steaming side of Hawkwind later and you get Kyuss and Monster Magnet and the other bleary-eyed kings of the scene as it exists today. The other more obvious difference is that the album is heavier and more bass-driven than before, due to Geezer being slightly more prominent in the mix, along with the lower tunings used on the album. This would be successful in some cases from Volume 4 - Never Say Die but here Ozzy gives only one quality vocal performance, more on that later. More epic doom riffing; "Lord of this world!!! We all embraced the opportunity: Tony threw in classical guitar parts, Geezers bass was virtually doubled in power, I went for bigger bass drums, also experimenting with overdubs. Ozzy Osbourne delivers a competent performance, with his unique voice, even though he isn't, technically speaking, the best singer out there. Note that, while the overall timing of "Deathmask/Into the Void" is approximately correct, the apportioning of time between the two parts of the song may be arbitrary, as the 3:08 mark occurs during "Into the Void"'s middle-8 vocal section ("Freedom fighters sent off to the sun "). This is actually one of the few songs I've ever heard where I ALTERNATE between air guitar and drums. A album that is literally about nothing, vacuous. However you have to understand this is a very new genre. 5! His voice is one hundred percent bad enough to shatter any enjoyment I could possibly have for the track. Musically speaking, it's not such a departure from Black Sabbath's typical sound, sounding a touch more upbeat than their trademark gloom. The pace picks up and then we are literally "in the atmosphere" with Ozzy. His haunting bellows also go hand-in-hand with the equally mysterious music. as if there were no tomorrow. After this we return to the heavy chug previously established. Tony Iommi had created a brand-new way of playing heavy music by turning blues into something evil and corrupt with the simplest of riffs on the famous (and the first doom metal song) "Black Sabbath". My life is free now, my life is clear And for material contained within Master of Reality, just more classic Black Sabbath, thats all. In his autobiography Iommi describes the cover as "Slightly Spinal Tap-ish, only well before Spinal Tap". And then we have the parts that truly hold Master Of Reality to such heavy heights. Not only does it begin with a cough but a cough produced by Iommi after hitting a joint, method music making I suppose. Already with the self titled and Paranoid album under their belt, Sabbath begin to experiment with their sound. Whereas all 7 of the other albums released during Ozzys original tenure had lots of energy, Master Of Reality lacks both energy and experimentation. Arguably the most important album Black Sabbath ever made, its worth buying for Children of the Grave alone, and the rest is like a fantastic full price rebate. I was singing along to it and almost sang the main chorus to that track! You know what I said earlier about Ozzy's vocals being not technically good? As much as I praise the music over the singing, they are just as guilty because nothing is spectacular here and if you listen closely you will hear that every idea on this album has been done before. to realize this is a much more sonically developed Ozzy Osbourne then the man who could barely droll out "the world today is such a wicked place!" [12][13], Master of Reality peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart,[22] and number eight in the United States,[23] where it achieved gold status on advance orders alone. YES! 4. It gives me images of a very suicidal person, sitting in a misty forest, bleak and misguided by love, ready to take his life. 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". Maybe you have We Sold Our Soul for Rock N' Roll or another compilation album that has Children of the Grave but that song just isn't complete without Embryo to introduce it with. Ozzy's vocals on this album are damn near perfect overall, and it mixes extremely well to the instruments. before returning to the main motif. Whether expressing his undying love for the "Sweet Leaf" or sharing his warning to those who would listen of war and the end of times this is his moment and his moment alone to be crowned undisputed king . Listen to Sweet Leaf: a simple heavy chord structure with unorthodox drum beats throughout the first half and when it transitions to the solo, that's where the clarity of that classical composition can be heard. The aforementioned Children Of The Grave goes from pummeling rhythms backed by clanking kicks by Bill Ward to slow and menacing doom riffs laced with terror. Solitude is a relatable song about loneliness. Side B, which was the information label, was black with white writing instead of white with black writing. It's also a pretty cool song, the outro slightly long of tooth (about four minutes counting the cool "Orchid" instrumental), but Ozzy in top form over another 'the world is going to shit' warning lyric. "Solitude" is like a more fully realized "Planet Caravan", an oasis in the midst of the parched purple desert of Master of Reality. Of course, the albums stellar songwriting is what truly drives everybody and their father to imitate it so much. The opening track "Sweet Leaf" has a SWEET mid-section that is truly epic in its own rights. It ended up being the heaviest record at the time and decades later, Iommi's technique is still being imitated . It isnt anything mind blowing or life changing, but then again if it was it would be separating the album down to its constituent parts, which are far less interesting as individual entities than they are as a collective whole. The bass driven heaviness that Black Sabbath created is in its truest and most purest form on this album . Marijuana use historically has not been as menacing to human happiness as other drugs such as LSD and Heroine. It's actually hilarious, considering the band's image of poe-faced, doom-obsessed troglodytes. (Studio Outtake - Intro with Alternative Guitar Tuning) 03:42 (loading lyrics.) It was released in 1971 less than a year after Paranoid. I can only imagine how cataclysmic this thing sounded back in 71 but with how timeless it sounds, you dont have to come at it from that angle to fully appreciate it. But when I really start thinking about Black Sabbath, I see why I find them so subtle, which is an achievement in its own right when playing on ten. The shortest album of Black Sabbath's glory years, Master of Reality is also their most sonically influential work. No melody even remotely. The band did this album not too long after Paranoid and seeking out another album to write and continue the trademark heaviness feels comfortable. Musically my only minor complaint with the album has to be Bill Wards drumming. No matter youre favorite genre of metal is, this one is for you, particularly anyone who has any interest in doom metal. Otherwise, the real lasting legacy of MoR is just the down-tuning to C# for all stringed instruments from then on, producing a much thicker and heavier sound. Like I already said, its descent into that misty and chilling exit with whispers and distorted sounds depicts the entire record wonderfully. Iommis clean soloing is not as exciting as usual though. So there we have it, Master of Reality. Its organic enough to not sound out of place in the 70s rock climate but still has enough grime to be just as earthshaking as your modern stoner/sludge metal fare. Speaking of that, check out Solitude. What a relief! The slower songs contrast with the heavy songs and the darker songs contrast with the lighter ones. But even more, it doesn't feel like a concerted effort to be as such. Black Sabbath DOMINATED the metal scene, and for good reason. Woo hoo! One excellent example of this is in the final track "Into the Void". 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). There's also a nice patented Iommi 'dual guitar' solo in here as well. That is it. This deserves all the labels of high appraisal that are thrown around all too carelessly sometimes; a landmark release, timeless, revolutionary, hugely influential. Which is why I think Master of Reality is the best Black Sabbath album. Lyrically however, bassist Geezer Butler writes about his devotion to Christianity, even ridiculing those who may not agree with the Church. Anyone who is familiar with doom metal will automatically recognize the rumble of Children of the Grave by rote. Now onto the ultimate metal singer himself, the man, the myth, the legend: Ozzy . I recommend this album to all fans of metal, but particularly to fans of Doom, Thrash and Power Metal as it is a pioneering effort that laid the framework for these genres. Some of the riffs on here absolutely crush and slay all in sight. Black Sabbath acted as one entity but were also comprised of four individuals who each brought something to the table. In the Know All Music News Popular Black Sabbath Lyrics On this very album his vocal display is nothing short of phenomenal . No, my main point when it comes to MoR is how it really shows the thing that made Black Sabbath so incredibly great in my eyes - Their way of handling musical contrast. This one record is the perfect definition of all that can be defined about heavy metal . There is such a terrifying shadow-and-light dynamic here. Ah, Master of Reality. Again, this was the best Iommi could do at the time? It has a dark mood and thick atmosphere that, if nothing else, introduced a new instrument to the fold and evidence of what was to come. Sure, Purple and Zeppelin were heavy, so were a whole spate of second division bands. When Ozzy's voice starts up you can hear the difference in his voice is instantly evident. Without a doubt, the most controversial track here is "After Forever". Children Of The Grave - This cut gave birth to all headbanging cuts. But its only 28 seconds long, so Ill give him a break. While not being a long record (Master of Reality contains six songs and two interludes, with the total playing time being, roughly, 35 minutes), it is a very cohesive and strong piece, all the songs flowing well together and sounding fresh. Bill's kit sounds as clear as ever, and Ozzy is mixed to the fore. The songs on this one Sabbath album flow so perfectly in succession that it almost tells a story, all the while being what cannot be described as anything other than the heavy metal soundtrack to the bible . Revised US LP Pressing, With Subtitles Removed, "Black Sabbath's 'Master of Reality': 8 Facts Only Superfans Would Know", "The story behind Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality", "Side 2, original North American pressing", "Black Sabbath Master of Reality | the Documentary", = Black Sabbath - Master of Reality the Documentary https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20198940/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt = Black Sabbath - Master of Reality the Documentary, Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies, "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time", "Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins talks about the records that changed his life", "Dutchcharts.nl Black Sabbath Master of Reality", "Offiziellecharts.de Black Sabbath Master of Reality", "Norwegiancharts.com Black Sabbath Master of Reality", "Black Sabbath | Artist | Official Charts", "Canadian album certifications Black Sabbath Master of Reality", "British album certifications Black Sabbath Master of Reality", "American album certifications Black Sabbath Master of Reality", Recording Industry Association of America, Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 19701978, Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath 19701978, List of cover versions of Black Sabbath songs, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Master_of_Reality&oldid=1142564173, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2012, Certification Table Entry usages for Canada, Pages using certification Table Entry with shipments figures, Certification Table Entry usages for United Kingdom, Pages using certification Table Entry with streaming figures, Certification Table Entry usages for United States, Pages using certification Table Entry with shipments footnote, Pages using certification Table Entry with streaming footnote, Articles with MusicBrainz release group identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, "Sweet Leaf" (studio outtake featuring alternative lyrics), "After Forever" (studio outtake instrumental), "Children of the Grave" (studio outtake featuring alternative lyrics), "Children of the Grave" (studio outtake instrumental), "Orchid" (studio outtake with Tony count-in), "Lord of This World" (studio outtake featuring piano & slide guitar), "Solitude" (studio outtake intro with alternative guitar tuning), "Spanish Sid (Early Version of 'Into The Void')" (studio outtake alternative version), This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 03:46.
