For me, "After Forever" is definitely the worst track on the entire record. What then? And then After Forever is the beau ideal of more of that symphony riff style that Tony Iommi made use of in the two following albums. Almost every track is pretty catchy (the choruses are very well written), from Children of the Grave to Solitude there are always some hooks present. This one record is the perfect definition of all that can be defined about heavy metal . Bill's kit sounds as clear as ever, and Ozzy is mixed to the fore. In short, this is Black Sabbaths best album based on its remarkably consistent dark and evil tone, and its lack of filler. A heavy metal album from 1971 with music about war, peace, betrayal and annihilation is apropos. It's almost like him and Iommi were jamming in a joint womb; their chemistry was and is second to none. Ah, Master of Reality. 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. The album was produced by Rodger Bain, who had also produced Black Sabbath's previous two albums, with future Judas Priest producer Tom Allom handling engineering. The opening track, Sweet Leaf, is an transparent ode to marijuana. Theyve recorded some classic albums from 1970 to 1981 and if it is their best, an album like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath or Mob Rules is not too far behind but Master of Reality defines from each song to song what I think of when their name comes up. Master of Reality is the third record by Black Sabbath. The guitar is obviously the most important instrument of this album; Tony Iommi dominates everything here with his amazing riffs really shining. Without them, the music of Black Sabbath would have been stiff and stunted. But I would like to refer back to Master of Reality as being one of THE albums that have influenced metal over the years. As always in Sabbath, he uses his vocal disadvantage to the best effect. Black Sabbath on the other hand promised to deliver their heaviest effort yet. 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. The verse riff is fantastic, but the song keeps switching back and forth between these two riffs, and it just makes it feel disjointed for me. I wish you the best of luck with your dentistry degree and may your kisses be as sweet as your tooth! Ozzy's voice is always a stumbling block. . Now, they are not kidding around; they love Jesus. Leaving the world to Satan, his slaves, and his ex. Fully five of the albums six full tracks are unabashed bashers on a whole 'nother level from what has come before, a horror unmatched til the advent of the raw electrics of Vol. They helped lay down the foundation for heavy metal. Musically speaking, it's not such a departure from Black Sabbath's typical sound, sounding a touch more upbeat than their trademark gloom. The lyrically melodies start off a little annoying, but irregardless this is a band operating on a higher level. It gives me images of a very suicidal person, sitting in a misty forest, bleak and misguided by love, ready to take his life. Regardless of whether I personally agree with the message of the song, I have to say that it sounds absolutely great. Ozzy's vocals are a little unhinged, a little high, with plenty of "oh yeahs!" The intro of Children of the Grave. Thank whatever you have made the conscious decision to worship in your life that this album was made the way it was . The next track (after "Orchid") is a really, really pounding piece of almost southern doom, appropriately given a massive, must-hear cover by Corrosion of Conformity on the Nativity in Black tribute album. One excellent example of this is in the final track "Into the Void". Sure, Purple and Zeppelin were heavy, so were a whole spate of second division bands. Whenever that happened, he would start believing that he wasn't capable of playing the song. I've always preferred just going into the studio and playing, without spending a lot of time rehearsing or getting sounds." There's no excuse for you not to own this album. There are no excuses however for why it also has only 2 guitar riffs. 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. Master of Reality (2014 Remaster), Black Sabbath - Qobuz The remaining 3 songs are, ironically, the most memorable, if for no reason they are absurdly different. Yes, its that great. Closing Comments 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 an album that does so much right, but so much wrong too. "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. After another great solo, complete with unison bends, the closing minute is this creepy ambience, complete with "children of the grave" whispers, as if these same children are whispering from beyond. The band repeat the attempt to include a quiet song with the inclusion of Solitude, which unfortunately just isn't very good - it's over five minutes long and really needs to trim three of those minutes, it's a poor attempt at a flute-led melodic love ballad which fails to match up to the efforts of other bands working in the same vein (it reminds me a little of a poor attempt to mimic early Jade Warrior), and the lyrics are the sort of love poetry a self-important 13 year old might compose. Unlike various forms of propaganda that dwell upon specifics, this song takes a very generalized approach and can apply to the world that we live in today. Finally, Ozzy. Perfect albums like Master of Reality have always, and will always contain a permanent documentation as to the exact reason that I have dedicated my entire existence to living, breathing, eating, sleeping, bleeding, worshiping, and yes one day dying for my true love: heavy metal . Some more monster riffs that only Iommi and Butler could have come up with, and good interplay between the two of them in the beginning sequence. It is for that reason I fail to get what is so great about this album. After Forever starts with an ominous synthesizer, but soon unfolds into an upbeat, major-key guitar riff. Many people complain about these tracks as they dont seem to function well being so close together, let alone including 2 short instrumentals in a song that only has 8 songs and runs less than 40 minutes. Again, this was the best Iommi could do at the time? This deluxe edition was remastered by Andy Pearce who also did the deluxe editions of Black Sabbath and Paranoid. And the part where it goes Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh! The whole section just has wild, spontaneous smashing across the whole thing. 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. That variant of the Vertigo label was never to be used again thereafter. The song "Solitude" showcases guitarist Iommi's multi-instrumental talents, featuring him playing guitar, flute, and piano. I like them both but what makes Master of Reality tops is that it doubles back unto itself. 100%: erickg13: January 1st, 2007: Read: Heavy . Every little bell and string pluck makes a difference. 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. The lyrics work really well with the atmosphere of the music. It was also my first album from them and everybody in the band sounds much better on here than before. Seeing him try was hilarious." All of a sudden the song is over and the closer Into The Void just crushes you with the buzz saw intro. The absent drums work in the song's favour, and the addition of flutes and pianos foreshadow the band's next album, Vol 4. YES! The songwriting is obviously top notch, Black Sabbath is one of the best bands out there in that field. Ozzy, and his back catalogue, have become accessible. Whereas all 7 of the other albums released during Ozzys original tenure had lots of energy, Master Of Reality lacks both energy and experimentation. This album has gotten darker, and is lined up with another impressive selection of songs. His punishing pummeling style forces the issue at hand aggressively down the throats of all that would dare try to not pay attention to You could perhaps say that Black Sabbath became even more headbangable by the time this album was released. Without getting into specific bands, doom metal is slow and heavy music with crushing riffs. It's unfitting and off-putting. The change is evident on Sweet Leaf. Master of Reality gives us great, heavy fucking metal riffs that sound great in standard tuning, or any tuning (go look up a 1992 performance of Into The Void with Tony Martin, standard tuning and still Azbantium splitting). Another key factor of Master of Reality is its lyrical theme and overall mood. So I can see how this song would be more of a relaxed fair, its slight swing makes it excusable. Highlights: Also, while Hand of Doom may have given the genre of Doom Metal its title, Master of Reality contributes much more to the genres sound. What ever genre of metal people are fans of, this without a second of doubt obviously influenced them all . To this I can only respond that the songs serve the purpose of showcasing a varied approach to music and a defiance of conventional thinking, and in this particular case it didnt fully work out as intended. This release has gone two times platinum and that might not seem like much considering some very popular bands go platinum in one year and this is two times platinum over the period of over 40. His detuned bass (relatively matching Iommi's tuning) lends a heaviness to the album not seen in other bands around the time. Planet Caravan slows things down, before picking it all back up with Iron Man, another contender for best riff ever. They did rip off a little bit of their own song because after the third verse it sounds a lot like Electric Funeral. This gives the atmosphere a slow, downer, and doomful feel, and it works perfectly. The shortest album of Black Sabbath's glory years, Master of Reality is also their most sonically influential work. 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 . Master of Reality is an extremely short but very effective album. 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. Bill Ward's jazz-trained drumming is also something that gives the great music on this album a certain spice; a great quality that works perfectly with Iommi's and Butler's string-wrangling. It's impossible not to like this album. Driving this in even harder, that leaves two other dense bangers that hold the same weight but go a different direction. . 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 . With Master of Reality, we get the most ambitious Sabbath release. This was the release that saw the band de-tune their stringed instruments, completing the intent first established the previous year. Master of Reality was probably the first metal album that I could consider high art. Into the Void reads almost as a continuation of Solitude. He turned something so simple into something so awesome and spiced things up with some sick leads and solos. Not abnormally jarring enough? What I like best about this song is Iommis very creative guitar playing. [citation needed] Negatively received by critics on release, the album is now considered one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time. Some early German, US and Canadian pressings had the title incorrectly printed on the record labels as 'Masters Of Reality'. Ozzy's haunting voice flows perfectly with the doom/stoner feel, and his story about the rockets is greater thanks to his emphasis of some words. About the only good(?) I won't get into comparisons with that era of the band. If the album were "Children of the Grave" and "Into the Fucking Void" four times, it would be totally fucking perfect. Bill Ward (drums) - Bill Ward's performance is similar to his previous works. Master of Reality was Black Sabbath's first and only top . There was one track like that on every album, and 'Into the Void' was the most difficult one on Master of Reality." "Solitude" is like a more fully realized "Planet Caravan", an oasis in the midst of the parched purple desert of Master of Reality. Sure, you get louder songs and about more gruesome subject matter, but it doesn't get any better than the closing minute and a half of Iommi riffage. Even the band's presentation of this album just exudes a fuzzed out stoner feel that has not been matched since it's release date in 1971 . BLACK SABBATH - MASTER OF REALITY ALBUM LYRICS - SongLyrics.com Leave a review. The song "Into the Void" was especially problematic, with Iommi revealing in the same interview: "We tried recording 'Into the Void' in a couple of different studios because Bill just couldn't get it right. The guitar is so smooth and sorrowful, whilst the bass emphasises the melancholy of the song's themes. I don't really need to write this do I ? No matter youre favorite genre of metal is, this one is for you, particularly anyone who has any interest in doom metal. In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, vocalist Osbourne states that he cannot remember much about recording Master of Reality "apart from the fact that Tony detuned his guitar to make it easier to play, Geezer wrote 'Sweet Leaf' about all the dope we'd been smoking, and 'Children of the Grave' was the most kick-ass song we'd ever recorded.". (This trick was still being copied 25 years later by every metal band looking to push the . But Tony doesn't just rest on his laurels and settle for insipid chords the entire time (which he very easily could have done, the whole point of tuning down was to make playing easier on his fingers). It's definitely one of the album's standouts. Its perhaps the finest Black Sabbath ballad ever and its so perfectly understated and sincere. The lyrics deal with themes on drugs, especially on the track " Sweet Leaf". The middle sections of the majority of the tunes are also filled with decently long instrumental sections, filled with nice riffs and solos. Master of Reality is a 34 minute journey that ebbs and flows. 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!" But its only 28 seconds long, so Ill give him a break. This is another album that many people will claim to be their favorite, and for damn good reason. Master of Reality [Deluxe Edition] - Black Sabbath - AllMusic This verse is about being open-minded about a god existing, which the band written to prove that they weren't Satanists. "Master of Reality" also features a pair of 'interlude' tracks that work best as experimental sketches. Now while this album is arguably one of the heaviest albums of all time, the reason it works so well not just as a metal album, but as a piece of music in general, is that the five ultra heavy tracks are balanced out with three lighter ones that dont change the atmosphere. And then we have the parts that truly hold Master Of Reality to such heavy heights. Bill Ward's drumming is also the perfect companion to the songs on his album . This is something Ive always valued with Black Sabbath listen to their classic albums and they all function as cohesive pieces, hence them making my favourite albums rather than greatest hits tapes I can play in the car on my way to super cool Kings of Leon concerts. "Orchid" is an outstandingly beautiful piece from Iommi. So with the aforementioned thick, dark, fuzzy, sludgy riffs doing their work on the albums five heavy tracks, its time to move on to the other electric instrument: the bass guitar! Another killer riff, and in comes another killer vocal performance from Osbourne. John "Ozzy" Osbourne (vocals) - Ozzy's voice is continually improving, gaining a little strength and some range. I critique an album as good or bad based on the album without any reference as to who made it or how influential it is/was, this will be one of those reviews. Into the Void is easily Iommi's highlight on MoR, as it bears the greatest metal riff ever penned. They were already writing the material for this album within a month or two after the release of Paranoid. And the fact is that the downtuned sound of this album makes it the sludgiest disc of the Ozzy era. This treatment had also been used on the North American editions of Black Sabbath's previous two albums. That aside, Master of Reality is every bit the classic it's been made out to be over the years. thing I can say about it is that it DOES perfectly represent most of the music herein quite perfectly. Black Sabbath's third album was their heaviest most uncompromising effort yet, and arguably of their entire output with Ozzy at the helm. Album Description. cuts, and was an enduring instant classic on release. [27] In MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (1999), authors Gary Graff and Daniel Durcholz described the album as a "brilliant skull crusher", singling out "Children of the Grave" and "Sweet Leaf" as "timeless". The riffs were more aggressive, Ozzy's voice was developing further, Geezer's bass was more powerful and the drumming of Bill Ward was as great as it had ever been. It is Solitude that I must single out for particular attention and thus praise (see: rating). That is it. Bill Ward never makes his entrance, letting this fantastic song remain mellow the whole way through. 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. Solitude is a slow and solemn song that takes the listener down into a deep abyss. Bill Ward's jazzy influences were pretty pronounced and was not flashy, though his fills were subtle and well thought out. Also, it seems way ahead of its time: the fast part in the middle sounds like the precursor to thrash metal. Nothing on Paranoid couldve ever reached the speeds of the charging Children of the Grave and while the tempo shifts on songs like Sweet Leaf and Into the Void are nothing new, they were never this purposeful. With the exception of Solitude, every song is a masterpiece, and I have a hell of a lot of fun listening to this record. Iommi and Geezer still have amazing moments for sure, but neither of them are at their best here. Orchid suffers from the same plight as Embryo, except it is a little more developed. Into the Void "Spanish Sid" (Studio Outtake - Alternative Version) . However, he was absolutely perfect for Black Sabbath. I like to think of Into The Void as the darker counterpart to Fairies Wear Boots, as they both work so well as the closer in each of their respective albums. Of all of their studio albums, and particularly during their 70s heyday, Black Sabbath's best is Master of Reality. Most of all, it was always be the Master. It is regarded by some critics as the foundation of doom metal, stoner rock, and sludge metal. It isnt until Sabbath Bloody Sabbath that to me his drumming is no longer odd at best, laughable at worst. Master of reality was far ahead of its time for 1971 and it is still a breath of fresh air in today's standards. But even then it was only Black Sabbath whod dare to be this ominous and fierce. Black Sabbath's Strongest. You would think that with the other melodic instruments would tune lower, Oz would have followed suit to try and play to what the public perceived as the band's strength, but going higher, subverting that expectation, is just one of the little moments of genius the man contributed to the band. This song features a pulsating chug that will make you beat your head against a wall for hours. I love you sweet leaf, though you can't hear The power and the hunger drove Sabbath in those early days. His fills are, at times, pretty fast here (check out the middle segment of Sweet Leaf) and the beats are all very well composed and fit the music very very well. (Studio Outtake - Intro With Alternative Guitar Tuning) 03:42 (loading lyrics.) One thing that doesn't really get talked about regarding Black Sabbath, beginning with Master of Reality is just how . The timing of "Solitude" on these pressings is also incorrect, as it includes the first half of "Into the Void", whereas the timings of "Deathmask" and "Into the Void" from the original US pressing should have been grouped instead. Even though most bands around this time stayed in standard tuning for another decade or two, whoops. Flower power is over. Into The Void - Starting with the slowest and heaviest of riffs (heavily accented by Geezer's bass), it later morphs into a slightly faster section featuring Geezer's bass prominently. Orchid is a 90 second instrumental, which I love. They didn't care about a radio single, it was all about quality to them and that would continue on into the 70s and beyond. which would normally be out of place, but actually works in the song's favour. Its so incredibly heavy and distinctive. Terence "Geezer" Butler (bass) - With the mentality "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," Geezer continues in his trademark fashion. Being contrary for the sake of it? Theres something about this release that feels unique and fresh as it probably did back in the 70s. Lyrics ranged from the sweet leaf (weed, duh!) This is a tedious, plodding song, with tedious, plodding music meant to be just a backdrop so as to shine the brightest light on, unfortunately, its worst performer, Ozzy, singing tedious, plodding vocal lines. He is instrumental in propelling Children Of The Grave, with the tom-work moving the song along nicely. 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). Reading too much into things? Black Sabbath - Master of Reality music album discussion and ratings. Unexpectedly, the song slows down and sleazes along effortlessly. After Forever is the first overtly pro-Christian song by Black Sabbath, though maybe that's not true. This is what being a heavy metal guitar player is all about, ripping it up no matter what tries to stop you. By the way, Christ is the only answer.") The feelings of paranoia and the imagery of all these children brimming with fury and rebellion all I can say is that this song is perfect in every way. 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. Of course, not being familiar with After Forever yet I couldnt exclaim But wait, Gran! Well, and the question is: is Master of Reality a good album? But the band ensure that this still isnt quite the Summer of Love as that riff is still rather colossal and one of Iommis most instantly recognisable moments. Master of Reality deserves a place SOMEWHERE in your collection, because apart from the amazing songs on it, the blueprint for metal as we know it lies within its dark and gloomy walls, and it will undoubtedly inform you as to where most of the music you enjoy comes from. Picking up where they left off on "Paranoid", "Sweet Leaf" is pumped full of Tony Iommi's distinctive guitar fuzz.