Label: Teichiku Records (Japan), TECP-23938
Style: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Country: Birmingham, England
Time: 34:31
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 220 Mb
Charts: UK #5, AUS #8, CAN #6, FIN #3, GER #5, NL #10, NOR #12, SWE #8, US #8. UK: Gold; CAN: Platinum; US: 2x Platinum.
While “Paranoid” is the defining album of Black Sabbath’s career, little attention is paid to its follow-up “Master of Reality”. “Master of Reality” was, incredibly, produced by Black Sabbath just a few short months after “Paranoid”, this is quite extraordinary seeing as almost no band has made so many albums in such a short time, especially albums of this magnitude.
Again, Sabbath wallows in the bluesy rock that they had on both their debut and “Paranoid”, however this is the most hard-hitting of all of them. Gone are the aimless jams of their debut (unless you want to nitpick about “Embryo” and “Orchid”, acoustic guitar pieces which together come in at less than two minutes), also while just as riff driven as “Paranoid”, “Master of Reality” focus’s on the rhythm to a much larger extent.
Continuing the trend of “Paranoid” each member continues to become more proficient in their individual instruments. Ozzy screams and yells, for maybe the most powerful vocal performance of his career, though hints of his signature mechanical, overdubbed vocals appear on “Master of Reality”. Tony Iommi again shows off his riffing prowess, and possibly the best performance of his career. Bassist Geezer Butler provides the rhythm backbone of the band, and on “Master of Reality” where there is much more of a rhythmic focus his contributions can’t be given credit enough. Bill Ward, as usually, provides a solid, but jam band-esque, performance, however, it must be noted, is the very John Bonham style slowly creeping into his style.
Another key factor of “Master of Reality” is its lyrical theme and overall mood. Well, as usually for Sabbath, this preaches of struggle, drugs, and sci-fi. Also, while “Hand of Doom” may have given the genre of Doom Metal its title, “Master of Reality” contributes much more to the genres sound.
And for material contained within “Master of Reality”, just more classic Black Sabbath, that’s all. “Master of Reality” contains so many classics, it’s not even funny. From “Sweat Leaf” and “Children of the Grave”, to “Into the Void” and “After Forever” and the absolute gem “Lord of This World”, “Master of Reality” packs quite a punch.
Overall, Black Sabbath’s “Master of Reality” is their single most consistent, strongest effort of their career. While “Paranoid” gets much of the fanfare and glory, “Master of Reality” out does it, and then some. Should you get this? YES! No matter you’re favorite genre of metal is, this one is for you, particularly anyone who has any interest in doom metal.
(metal-archives.com/reviews/Black_Sabbath/Master_of_Reality/487/) Review by erickg13, January 1st, 2007
Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).
01. Sweet Leaf (05:05)
02. After Forever (05:26)
03. Embryo (00:28)
04. Children Of The Grave (05:17)
05. Orchid (01:31)
06. Lord Of This World (05:26)
07. Solitude (05:02)
08. Into The Void (06:13)
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