Black Sabbath
Master of Reality

THE REVIEW

Black Sabbath are a band that everyone knows in one way or another, even if just by name; I admit that in the past I somewhat disregarded them, but for quite some time now I have recognized their worth and appreciate all their different eras. The album under scrutiny today is actually one I have the most affection for; while it would be too predictable to say that "Paranoid" or "Black Sabbath" are my favorites, and I’d be trying too hard if I put "Heaven and Hell" or "Vol. 4" on the podium, there’s no risk in speaking highly of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" or – in this case – "Master of Reality." "Master of Reality" is the album that cements the band somewhere between hallucination and esotericism, between being the fathers of heavy metal and the fathers of stoner rock, though in my view (and in the view of a good portion of critics) the album leans much more towards the proto-heavy doom spirit than towards anything grunge-esque.

However, it’s a 100% stoner track that opens this masterpiece: the sweet leaf – "Sweet Leaf" – has a super catchy seventies riff and an Ozzy who adapts his voice to torn and hallucinated screams. The mood shifts with "After Forever", a song with heavily loaded lyrics that scathingly criticizes materialists and those who pride themselves on vehemently denying all faith. Love for God – warns the Madman – is the only path to salvation. The short and pleasant "Embryo" leads into the galloping "Children of the Grave," a track as dark as they come, whose groove – even if it suffers a bit from its extended runtime – drags the listener into a vortex for which there is only one adjective: Sabbathian. The energy is ferocious; Iron Maiden would later make these dynamics their own, and perhaps they could be considered forebears of the galloping Harrisonian rhythm. "Orchid" is sublime, while "Lord of this World" is rather banal and a bit tedious, saved only by a nice solo at the end. To wrap up, we have an unprecedented one-two: "Solitude" is a deeply sorrowful ballad that would become a template for the following decade, while "Into the Void" is a boulder as heavy as iron, whose riff, I think, spent quite some time blasting from Kerry King and the rest of Slayer’s stereos.

This album is the third successful outing from the English group; the cloud of smoke and brimstone descending onto the rock world was here to stay, and truly stayed a long time: it’s called heavy metal, and it still infects the world today. Between boisterous songs ("Sweet Leaf"), funeral masses ("Children of the Grave"), acoustic moments ("Solitude"), and slabs of unheard heaviness ("Into the Void"), this record is varied and organic, yet very tight and economically balanced. I should specify that Black Sabbath should be defined as heavy not in the typical sense: theirs is not the ferocity or wickedness you find in Kreator or Morbid Angel. We’re talking about the sensation that, when certain riffs kick off, it feels like a stone boulder is crashing down on you.

If it’s almost impossible to say which is the best Black Sabbath album, this one is certainly a strong contender: a mature album, but still full of ideas, with a band in top shape. "When you think about death, do you lose your breathe, or do you keep your cool?" Rating: 95/100.