BLACK SABBATH: Master of Reality

Produced by Roger Bain

Released: 1971

There are those who would argue that either Vol. 4 or Sabbath Bloody Sabbath are the best of Black Sabbath's 70s albums, but for others, myself included, Master of Reality is where it's at. It's almost impossible to imagine a more appropriate soundtrack to an early 70s dope session than the appropriately-named opener "Sweet Leaf", the greatest song ever written about pot. Every stoner rock song there's ever been has its genesis in this cut, and it could well be that Tony Iommi never wrote a more spaced-out riff than this, one that stumbles all over itself like a man so far under the influence he can barely stand up. From the depths (nay, perhaps the highs) of unrestrained THC intoxication, Black Sabbath takes on religion next. In one of only three songs (all on this album) credited to Iommi alone, and perhaps in response to the claims of Satanism levelled at them in light of earlier work, "After Forever" examines the question of faith in a purely Christian context and is without a doubt the only time one is ever likely to hear Ozzy Osbourne singing that "God is the only Way to love".


Beyond this point, however, Master of Reality takes a darker and more sinister turn. A brief acoustic interlude from Iommi serves as a stark counterpoint to the monstrous "Children of the Grave", an immense, slab-like Vietnam War-era anti-nukes protest that stands virtually uncontested as perhaps the heaviest song ever written before 1980. Another short instrumental break opens the second half of the album before giving way to "Lord of This World", another track with a moral sting in its tail -- albeit one that is similar yet almost directly opposite to "After Forever" -- and possessed of what could well be the ultimate doom riff if not for the previous existence of "Electric Funeral". Then comes "Solitude", the epitome of gloom with an opening verse that ranks among some of the most depressing lyrics ever penned. One can't help but imagine a two and a half-year old Aaron Stainthorpe hearing this song at some point and being haunted by it forever more. In the wake of this suicidally dismal tune almost anything would be a lift, and "Into the Void" does in fact round out the album with a vague sense of hope, as the last remnants of humanity leave the Earth to "Satan and his slaves" and go off to "Make a home where love is there to stay".


It's true that none of Black Sabbath's first six albums are particularly joyous affairs, but Master of Reality is the blackest and darkest of them all and the one that, perhaps even more so than the albums before it, really laid the true foundations for what heavy metal was to later become.

1. Sweet Leaf


2. After Forever


3. Embryo


4. Children of the Grave


5. Orchid


6. Lord of This World


7. Solitude


8. Into the Void

Rating: 95%