Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Black Sabbath
Label: Vertigo Records
Released: 1971
Length: 34:29
Rating: 4.5/5
The legendary godfathers of heavy metal, especially its ‘doom & gloom’ atmospheric strain, hit a new phase on their third studio album, »Master of Reality«, pushing deeper into dark sonic shades and occult lyrics, which led plenty of media at the time to link them with Satanism, something the band members always flatly denied. Before recording this album, guitar virtuoso Tony Iommi, who had mangled his fingertips in a factory accident years earlier, decided to tune his guitar down a step to make playing easier, and that had a crucial effect on the murkier sound of »Master of Reality« compared to both of its predecessors.
The ever-growing intake of intoxicating substances played, like it or not, a major part in the creative process behind »Master of Reality«. Its ambiguous, apocalyptic-psychedelic title and the gloomy cover with its stylized lettering are in perfect harmony with the fatalistic, doom-laden atmosphere of this pioneering hard rock achievement in many respects. The band were so ‘stoned’ in this period that they dedicated the opening classic »Sweet Leaf«, which along with »Children of the Grave« is the most famous Sabbath standard on »Master of Reality«, to marijuana. At this stage of their career they hadn’t yet discovered hard drugs, cocaine first among them, and fame hadn’t started leaning on them with full force either, so new ideas rained down one after another with ease. In the mix they even deliberately left in a dissonant coughing fit that serves as the intro to this famous ode to getting high and doom metal prototype. Iommi’s uncompromising, roaring guitar riff is laid over a slow, rolling rhythm, while Ozzy’s vocals, half in ecstasy and half in withdrawal shock, rather naively celebrate the »liberating« herb in the middle of the doomy haze.
Catholic-raised bassist Geezer Butler, besides praising soft drugs and delivering pacifist warnings about the missteps of the so-called developed world, still loved to swear by the occult at the time, and that’s felt most of all on »After Forever«. Its message is soaked in the eternal question of the afterlife: is there really a choir of angels sitting on golden thrones on ‘the other side’, with an old man with a long white beard at the head, while down below a bunch of horned guys led by their hellish deceitfulness are partying, or does death bring a reunion with our nearest and dearest, or just plain emptiness and the final end of consciousness? The lyrics, of course, met with anything but approval from the moral guardians of the day, especially the line about the Pope on the end of a rope, and they deepened the myth of Black Sabbath as notorious Satanists. Musically, it’s yet another pioneering piece, with Iommi’s punchy guitar phrases dictating the tempo changes along the way, driven by Ward’s decisive drum fills, while Geezer’s melodic bass lines keep them company. The charismatic Ozzy is once again in his trademark, almost stereotypical vocal role as the eternal villain and tempter, though it’d be a lot easier to call him the Benny Hill of heavy metal than Mephistopheles.
Crowned with a baroque guitar arrangement, »Embryo« is the first of two short instrumentals on the album and serves as a brief intro to the famous heavy rock evergreen »Children of the Grave«, the best-known and hardest-hitting track on »Master of Reality«, which made its name mostly through its spine-chilling vibe. The lyrics are among the best of their career, and the message is more relevant than ever. Ozzy sings about the youth, a lost generation that’s already dead without even realizing it, whose future was stolen by a community of corrupt old men led by politicians and the clergy, who run the world together like a giant corporation, and sentenced to an early grave. Iommi’s full-bodied guitar phrases cut through the air without compromise, accompanied by rattling bass lines and crushing, merciless drum passages. This brutal, deeply gloomy standard was launched straight among the greatest metal classics of all time the moment it came out. »Orchid«, the next instrumental, boasts a lovely melody on acoustic guitar and was, at release, one of the first proofs that the legendary Birmingham foursome had a lot of potential for subtlety hiding inside.
The uncompromising crusher »Lord of This World« is another of Geezer’s occult yet pacifist creations with Lucifer in the lead role, only here it’s not the mythological lord of hell in the dock but humanity, which enthroned evil with its own disgusting deeds. No need to guess that this was another Sabbath standard that properly riled up the self-appointed guardians of public morals when it came out. Once again a deeply gloomy atmosphere rules, with a slow, rolling tempo and punchy guitar phrases, while dynamic drum passages, lively percussion, melodic bass lines and a few short guitar solos provide sudden bursts of movement. Ozzy sounds evil and enraged, as much as he possibly can, which only ratchets up the fatalistic mood further.
»Solitude« might even be the strangest experiment on »Master of Reality«, a tender love ballad with a pleasant acoustic melody and heartfelt lyrics. Ozzy’s uncharacteristically ethereal, soft voice is so altered here that plenty of fans of this legendary Birmingham outfit speculated for ages whether drummer Bill Ward had stepped in on lead vocals instead, the same Ward who five years later shone on the ballad »It’s All Right«. This lovely ballad, dressed up with Iommi’s pastoral arrangements on acoustic guitar, piano and flute, was in fact sung by a barely recognizable Ozzy this time, proving that with a bit of practice he could have improved as a singer on the technical side too. Even though »Solitude« doesn’t get mentioned often when people list the most famous Sabbath achievements, it set plenty of standards for later heavy metal ballads.
The closing ‘doom & gloom’ classic »Into the Void«, fairly complex and rhythmically rich, deals with the Cold War space race, which was still going strong between the two superpowers at the time, and also, revolutionarily for those days, warns about the ecological problems of ever-growing pollution, yet more proof of the intellectual breadth that often hid in Sabbath lyrics. Merciless guitar riffs hack through fractured, rolling rhythms and create a mood of total gloomy apathy, born from the primitivism of self-appointed world leaders and their space programs, which sadly always served first and foremost as political tools for measuring and flexing against each other while the world slowly goes ‘down the drain’. Of course, the central pacifist message wasn’t without a touch of the occult, so the fairy-tale lord of hell got a mention this time too. Ozzy’s melodramatic vocal delivery is truly superb atmosphere-wise and fits perfectly with Iommi’s brutal guitar finesse and Ward’s drum stampedes, woven through with Geezer’s grooving bass lines. The sudden tempo changes are very well timed, while the short closing guitar solo and the build-up of the central motif drive this Sabbath evergreen to an abrupt finish.
»Master of Reality« is still one of the most influential hard rock albums ever. It played a huge role in shaping the heavy metal scene, especially the doom metal and stoner rock/metal subgenres, and with its dark, brooding atmosphere it helped cement the popular myth of Black Sabbath as worshippers of the horned fairy-tale devil. It was precisely this funny but popular media label, one the band never wanted to wear, along with their major artistic growth in writing ever more complex standards, that helped them go from humble blues beginnings to the most important heavy metal act of the seventies in just a few years.
Lineup
Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
Tony Iommi – guitar, synthesizer on “After Forever”, flute and piano on “Solitude”
Geezer Butler – bass guitar
Bill Ward – drums
Production
Rodger Bain
Tracklist
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
