Master of Reality
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| Master of Reality | |||||
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| Studio album by Black Sabbath | |||||
| Released | July 21, 1971 | ||||
| Recorded | February–April 1971 at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California | ||||
| Genre | Heavy metal Doom metal |
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| Length | 34:31 | ||||
| Label | Vertigo Warner Bros. (US/Canada) |
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| Producer | Rodger Bain | ||||
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| Black Sabbath chronology | |||||
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Master of Reality is the third album by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in 1971. The album's "darker" or "sludgier" sound was a significant influence on the heavy metal genre known as doom metal, and its derivatives.
To date, Master of Reality has sold two million copies and reached 2x platinum.
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[edit] Recording
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For the recording of this album, guitarist Tony Iommi, who had injured his fingers in a factory accident years earlier, decided to de-tune his guitar down three semi-tones (or one and a half steps to C-sharp). This reduced string tension, thus making the guitar easier for him to play. Geezer Butler also de-tuned his bass guitar to match Iommi. The result was a noticeably "darker" or "sludgier" sound.
Master of Reality was recorded at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles, California between February and April 1971. This was the first time the band had recorded an album outside their home country of England. The album was produced by Rodger Bain, who had also produced their previous two albums. However, this would be his final collaboration with the band.
[edit] Music and lyrics
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
The slow and heavy songs that comprise most of the album are interspersed with quiet ballads written by Tony Iommi. Two of these, "Embryo" and "Orchid", are short instrumentals serving as interludes. The third, "Solitude", is much longer in comparison and features Ozzy Osbourne's soft, mournful vocals.
Unusually, the lyrics of the song "After Forever" focus entirely on Christian themes. At the time, some viewed Black Sabbath as Satanists due to their dark sound, image and lyrics. The lyrics of this song may have been written as an attempt to confuse those people, to parody Christian bands, or simply to note an observation. Similarly, the song "Lord of this World" has lyrics that appear to concern someone who is possessed by Satan.
The album opener, "Sweet Leaf" is a song about cannabis sativa. "Children of the Grave" was written about war, peace and revolution, and is lyrically similar to "War Pigs" and "Electric Funeral" on their previous album. It is composed primarily of a chugging guitar riff and eerie interludes. The final song on the album, "Into the Void", concerns a future in which Earth has been overcome by war and pollution. A group of astronauts travel into space in search of a new world to live on. The song's dark sound and theme was a key influence on the doom metal genre.
[edit] Artwork
The album cover reads Master of Reality coloured grey, underneath Black Sabbath coloured purple, against a black background. The words are written in a large font with a ripple effect like that of moving water or a waving flag. The first editions of the album came in an embossed 'envelope sleeve', which contained a poster of the band. This was the first Black Sabbath sleeve on which the lyrics were reproduced on the back of the sleeve. On the first North American editions of the album, several songs had subtitles given to segments, making it appear that there were more songs than there actually were. The outro of "Children of the Grave" was given the title "The Haunting", the intro of "Lord of This World" was titled "Step Up," and the intro of "Into the Void" was titled "Deathmask". This treatment had also been used on the North American editions of Black Sabbath's previous two albums. These pressings also incorrectly listed the album title as Masters of Reality. Subsequent editions corrected the album's title and removed the three subtitles.
[edit] Release and reception
The album broke the top ten in both the United Kingdom (#5) and United States (#8) and was certified gold in less than two months. Eventually it sold two million copies in the US. However, critical response of the era was again unfavourable, with Lester Bangs of Rolling Stone dismissing Master of Reality as "naive, simplistic, repetitive, absolute doggerel". However the very same magazine would later place the album at number 298 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, compiled in 2003. The magazine described the album as "the definitive studio relic of Sabbath's golden-hellfire era (1970-74)..."[1]
Thirty years after the album's release, Q magazine (7/01, p.86) included it in their 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time and described it as "malevolent...casting Black Sabbath as a Titanic-style house band on the eve of Armageddon, cranking it as the bomb drops." Another edition of Q magazine that year (1/01, p.122) gave it 5 out of 5 stars, describing it as "the most cohesive record of their first three albums."
[edit] Track listing
All songs by Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler and Ozzy Osbourne, except where noted.
[edit] Side One
- "Sweet Leaf" – 5:05
- "After Forever" (Iommi) – 5:27
- "Embryo" (Iommi) – 0:28
- "Children of the Grave" – 5:17
[edit] Side Two
- "Orchid" (Iommi) – 1:30
- "Lord of This World" – 5:26
- "Solitude" – 5:02
- "Into the Void" – 6:13
[edit] Personnel
- Ozzy Osbourne – lead vocals
- Tony Iommi – guitar, flute, piano
- Geezer Butler – bass guitar
- Bill Ward – drums, backing vocals
- Keef – photography, poster design
- Mike Stanfod – art direction
[edit] Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Notes |
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| United Kingdom | July 21, 1971 | Vertigo Records | |
| United States | 1971 | Warner Bros. Records | |
| United Kingdom | 1986 | Castle Communications | technically this is a compilation album as the final track is a live version of "Killing Yourself to Live" taken from the Live at Last album. |
| United Kingdom | 2004 | Sanctuary Records |
[edit] References
- ^ Levy, Joe; Steven Van Zandt [2005] (2006). Rolling Stone The 500 Greatest Album of All Time, 3rd edition, London: Turnaround. ISBN 1932958614. OCLC 70672814.
