Review Summary: A worthy followup to Paranoid that introduces some of the band's experimentation with dynamics.
Black Sabbath were already a very successful band (even if the critics spat upon them at any given opportunity) by the time Master of Reality was released in July 1971. This album probably summarizes their "glory years" ('70-'75) the best, even though it's not the best album from that era. Nonetheless, it's definitely worthy of being released after the genre defining masterpiece that was Paranoid.
I say that this album summarizes the glory years of Black Sabbath because there are two traits of this album that would also be common on their next two albums, and would in a way, help define their sound. The first is that for the majority of the songs here, Tony and Geezer tune their guitars down to C#, giving many songs (like Children of the Grave and Lord of This World) a monsterous, heavier-than-life sound. Hell, even the instrumentals (Orchid and Embryo) sound more ominous thanks to the low guitar tuning. This distinctive downtuned style would be utilized in many heavier numbers on later classic Sabbath LPs.
The second trait of this album that would become more common in classic Sabbath's best works is the experimentation with a more dynamic sound. Not every song is doomy, heavy early metal. We have two acoustic instrumentals here, as well as Solitude, which contains very gentle (and quite good!) vocals from Ozzy and features a flute as a prominent instrument. Not a single heavy guitar riff to be found there! This album doesn't sound as raw as Paranoid (a bit on the thin side compared to that album, actually), and there's less lyrically dark content. In fact, they wrote a pro-Christianity song (What else could you call After Forever?). Experiments with more gentle sounding songs and instrumentals would continue with songs like Laguna Sunrise and Fluff on their later albums. Make no mistake, though, because this is still Black freaking Sabbath. Neither of the instrumentals here could be called "gentle", After Forever is musically pretty aggressive, and there are still monstrously heavy tracks like Lord of this World and Into the Void. They've just thrown some more spices into the soup, which remains unspoiled.
One such heavier song, Sweet Leaf, opens the album. Introduced with a cough from Tony caused by him smoking a large joint brought in by Ozzy (The song is an ode to cannabis), they immediately launch into an uber-heavy groove built upon a brilliant riff. They're a bit more concise here (Unlike Paranoid, only one song here even reaches the six-minute mark) and it shows, because Ozzy's vocals come in after ten seconds. For the most part, Sweet Leaf is pretty straightforward, until they speed up a little, giving Tony his first chance on the album to showcase some awesome soloing skills. Then back to business as usual. With its slower pace and monster riff, this would be considered typical for classic Sabbath. The next song decidedly isn't. Opening with the drone of a synthesizer (Those would also be more common a bit later on!), this is much faster than the previous track. The words wore written by Geezer (Their main lyricist, and a Catholic) in response to allegations of Satanism. Instead of being anti-Satanism, it's a bit more of a strongly pro-Christianity song. The riffs here switch between being a lot of fun and being pretty heavy, backed by Geezer's terrific bass playing. There's some really cool bluesy-ish licks to be found here too, with an example being at just around three and a half minutes in. Tony's brief solo here is super freaking good. Although he doesn't let loose as often here, his guitar playing is still one-of-a-kind.
Those songs were really good in their own right, but following the conclusion of After Forever is a magnificent trio of songs that compliment each other. Embryo serves as an ominous prelude to the next song, which is the absolute best on the album and one of the finest of any of the original Sabs' careers. It's a fairly eerie acoustic instrumental that's less than half a minute long. The recording quality to this one in particular gives it a more sinister vibe, and it's the first appearance of C# tuning on the album. It would probably be pretty repetitive and annoying...if it weren't so brief, that is. Truly, Embryo is the calm before the storm, because next up is one of Black Sabbath's supreme masterpieces. The echoing, quiet guitars, building up along with the drums that are beginning to pound louder and harder (Complete with timpani!), before breaking out into that awesome and speedy (For early Black Sabbath standards, anyways) riff, it's one of two songs by Black Sabbath described as inspiring the thrash metal movement. That's right, it's Children of the Grave, described by the Prince of Darkness in his book as "the most kick-ass song we'd ever recorded". After that
amazing main riff come those epic power chords. You know right then and there that this is gonna be some truly monumental stuff. Back into the awesome main riff and Ozzy starts vigorously shouting excellent lyrics about a youth revolution that fit the driving, aggressive mood of the music. "They're tired of being pushed around/And told just what to do! They'll fight the world until they've one/And love comes flowing through, yeah!" Bill's pounding drums also fit the theme of revolution, in addition to complimenting the energetic riffage and vocals from Ozzy. It's one great riff after another until they slow down into one of the best metal riffs
ever. That's not hyperbole, it's that good. If you've heard the song (And if you haven't listened to this song and the album accompanying it, what the heck are you waiting for?), you'll know what riff I'm talking about. Ultra heavy, carrying tons of crunching impact, and backed with an organ or synthesizer or whatever it is, that riff alone cements this song as one of the most important in the development of metal. You really should be pumped by the end of this one. The ending of the song proper is great, and then they drop into that eerie section of guitar noise with whispers of "Children of the grave...". On the vinyl, this was the last song on the first side of Master of Reality, and that part looped indefinitely. Imagine how creepy that must have been to someone who didn't realize it was time to change the side already! Orchid follows immediately afterwards, and is another acoustic guitar instrumental, sounding beautiful, layered, mysterious, and a bit eerie all at once. These three songs are best listened to in sequence, which really adds to the effect of Children of the Grave.
Lord of this World begins with an intro, titled Step Up in the original North American LP, and is a terrific, slow, heavy Sabbath stomp built around a really stellar classic Iommi riff. There isn't really that much about this song that I could examine in great detail, but it's nonetheless very memorable. Geezer's thumping bass compliments this song very well and gives it a thick lower end that serves to make it even heavier. Ozzy's vocal melodies are equally as memorable as Tony's riffs here, too. "Lord of this wooorld! Evil possessor! Lord of this wooorld! He's your confessor now!" I guess this one's about the devil or something, and it has the darkest lyrics on the album so far. After the last song, which is standard (but very good) doomy classic Sabbath fare, comes the completely different Solitude. Instead of being driven by classic heavy riffage from Iommi, this number is more built around clean guitar riffs, a piano, soft and mellow bass playing, a flute, and very gentle vocals from Ozzy. The lyrics to this one are dark in a completely different sort of way; rather than a more typical song about nuclear demise or witchcraft, this one's quite gloomy, somber, and reflective, focusing on someone missing their lover who'd left them. Combined with the music, it evokes feelings of...well, solitude. A very pretty song, which would indicate shades of what was to come on their later records. If you're worried that the Sabs have gone soft, though, have no fear, because Into the Void opens with a downtempo riff that, combined with Geezer's bass, is as heavy as as heavy as a bag of several three-ton weights and a few dozen cinder blocks. They make the most out of that for a bit over a minute before launching into
another awesomely heavy riff. Iommi doesn't get his reputation as a man with an endless supply of great riffs for nothing. This riff carries the song for a while until they launch into probably the fastest section of any song they'd ever done up to that point before slowing back down into that super thick, crunching main riff. God, the riffs here are so good! Towards the song's end, they go into some more awesomely heavy and memorable riffage as Black Sabbath's third superb album in a row draws to a close.
It's no Paranoid or Sabotage, but Master of Reality is nonetheless chock-full of amazingly powerful, memorable, and super heavy riffs, with terrific performances from each band member to match. There are some sections of After Forever that aren't the best, but other than that, every song matches one another in quality. They're a bit less dark and ambitious here, and there's just a bit less of that feeling of "oh man oh man this is SOOO freaking good' that you get listening to Black Sabbath's two best releases, but you'll still be saying that to yourself often listening to this. Superb record that shows no signs of slowing down for the band, and their best album until four years later. Plus, it has Children of the Grave! 4.5/5
RECOMMENDED TRACKS/BEST OF:
Sweet Leaf
Children of the Grave
Lord of this World
Children of the Grave
Into the Void
Children of the ***ing Grave!
