Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality (1971)

January 28, 2022

I’m unsure how the fuck I’ve managed to avoid writing about this album for the entire existence of this website. Especially considering I worked my way through the entire Sabbath discography last year during lockdown. So I broke out my Dad’s copy on 12″ vinyl, and spun it again (any excuse) for the purposes of writing this post.

This has to be peak Ozzy era. Three fucking albums in 18 months (this being the third) is just absolutely bonkers. And comparing them, them being the debut, Paranoid and this, is one of my favourite things to do (you can throw Vol. 4 in there too, fuck it). The musical development of these guys is beyond incredible. The riffs here are peak Iommi (yeah I’m going to say peak a lot). “Sweet Leaf”, “Children Of The Grave”, “Lord Of This World”, I could go on. For anyone who says that Ozzy can’t sing, I raise you “Solitude”.

I have to mention the backbone of Butler and Ward too, of course, integral to this early, fantastic sound. I cannot praise this album enough. Please listen to this if you’ve never heard it.