Master Of Reality - Black Sabbath

Hot off recording the infernal heavy metal album classic ‘Paranoid,’ Black Sabbath listened to their fast-growing fan base over their numerous critics, and unleashed the heaviest, dingiest and most consistent record of their seventies heyday. Finally shaking off the ‘evil blues’ sound that sadly dates their first two albums, Sabbath refine, define and perfect the genre of heavy metal with this thirty-five minute LP. What Master of Reality lacks in quantity, it surpasses insurmountably in the strength of each of the five substantial songs, bridged by the unnecessary but pleasant acoustic instrumentals ‘Embryo’ and ‘Orchid.’ Iommi’s disturbingly down-tuned ...  Read the complete review

In the space of a couple of years Black Sabbath released four of the greatest rock albums of all time. It's strange how bands seem to spend that long in the studio these days to come up with just one album. Master of Reality was the third of those seminal, genre defining classics. It may not be their best known album from the early days, but in many ways it is the strongest, maybe even better than Paranoid. The album kicks off with a cough and launches into Sweet Leaf, where they sing their praises to marijuana. It's a Sabbath classic, no doubt about it, and one of the better known tracks from this album. Next up is After Forever. Has ...  Read the complete review

Building on the immense success of Paranoid was not going to be easy for Black Sabbath, but now they were a band in their prime, and could take on the world. They had gained a new, unwanted fan base in the screaming kids who revelled in the hit single Paranoid, and the image these kids sported did not suit the band at all. And so with the release of Master of Reality, it seems as if they used this album to repel these new followers, and redeem themselves to their original fans by releasing their heaviest material to date. The phlegm coughing Sweet Leaf (obvious references to marijuana) opens the proceedings with its relentless thump, followed by the surprisingly ...  Read the complete review

Sabbath are awesome. I got into these through a crappy tape of the 1st two albums, and just had to buy the rest. And of them, this is my fave. Any of the Ozzy era albums blow all the (mixed quality) others out the water. But Master... has it all. It mixes the heavy, riffy classics Sweet Leaf and After Forever, then a couple of those trademark nice almost classical chill tracks, then comes Into the Void. As far as I'm concerned, this is the bounciest, heaviest slice of OHHHH YEAAAAAAHHHH.... You get the idea! Not far off a perfect album? ...  Read the complete review