Master of Reality

Black Sabbath

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: August 1971
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002KDO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (209 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,015 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Hard Rock & Metal > British Metal

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Black Sabbath's first two releases, Black Sabbath and Paranoid, were more than groundbreaking, they were earth-shattering, exposing the public to a brutal new form of noise pollution termed heavy metal. But it was the band's third album, Master of Reality, that cemented the group as blackened wizards of doom and gloom. Just listen to the echoing cough and sludgy guitar riff of the opening track "Sweet Leaf" and compare it to anything that existed at the time. Not only were Black Sabbath heavier than Deep Purple or Vanilla Fudge, they were also more experimental and controversial, exploring themes of darkness, drugs, and depravity that others dared not address. The heaviest and most influential disc of Black Sabbath's career, Master of Reality featured proto-metal sludge like "Children of the Grave" and "After Forever," which served as a blueprint for a legion of musicians including '90s Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Smashing Pumpkins. --Jon Wiederhorn

Product Description
Japanese digitally remastered reissue of 1971 album packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cough...Cough..Cough..., May 18, 2001

By	B E H (In a world with no MTV) - See all my reviews

That is how Master of Reality begins, with the famous repetitive cough of "Sweet Leaf". On this 1971 release, Sabbath's third album, the band has become "masters" of their own sound. Calling Black Sabbath influential is an understatement. Listen to any of their first 4 albums and you can hear where several "metal" bands got their riffs, style, and "dark" image. Actually, the silliest idea about Black Sabbath is that they are all satan worshippers obsessed with death and think that everyone should commit suicide. Anyone who ever thought these things about this group should try reading the words that Ozzy Osbourne is singing. Their not evil words and a prime example is on Master of Reality. For example, in "After Forever" is clearly about finding God - "They should realize that God is the only way to love." and "Children of the Grave" (No it's not about little kids rising from their graves and killing people) is about a generation of young people who are tired of the hate filled world they live in and want to change it at any cost - "They'll fight the world until they've won and love comes flowing through." Tony Iommi has stated that much of the dark and demonic image associated with Sabbath can be chalked up to record company ploys to make money by making the band seem "evil" (For example, the inner sleeve of the debut LP, Black Sabbath (1970), contains an upside down cross which was not the band's idea at all). If you look at all 8 of the original line up's album covers, there is not an evil or disturbing image in the bunch, with the minor exception of the hooded figure on the debut cover which could be considered creepy by some. I grew up thinking negative things about Black Sabbath but I'm so glad I grew up and gave this pioneering band a chance because they created some very important music and if anything was ever called "heavy metal" it should be Black Sabbath even though they were creating these sounds before that term existed. Master of Reality is perhaps the statement that solidified the Black Sabbath sound, it is essential. One last question to those who think Ozzy Osbourne is "evil" - What hand gesture does he always give, particularly on the cover of Black Sabbath, Vol. 4? - The peace sign. Yes, maybe he is pure evil.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nearly Flawless!, March 17, 2000

By A Customer

This is probably Sabbath's best regular issue album and it is sometimes very surprising. Sweet Leaf is well known to most and deserves the attention it has gotten. Lord Of This World is maybe a little less known but is very heavy and powerful. Children Of The Grave is great but most already know that. Into the void rocks hard, but still most know that. My point here is to tell you something you may not know. The highlight of this album is a song that is probably not that well known to the most casual Sabbath fan. That song is After Forever. This is a song that I have never seen on any Sabbath live albums or greatest hits compilations. It is a song about God and to some extent the afterlife. The lyrics are something you might normally hear from a Christian Rock band. It has some very beautiful lyrics in it and it does dispell the myth that they were evil and not God fearing. I am not saying these guys are or were saints, but check this album out and you will be amazed by this song. The version I just bought has the lyrics which is somewhat odd for a Sabbath cd. Most people give Sabbath a bad rap because of their lyrics but upon further look you will discover that they have belief in God and show it in many ways. Many of their songs mention satan or are about satan so people think they must worship him. Well, I have studied up on this and not found any of that to be true. Singing about satan is not worshipping him. Now if they spoke of satan the way they speak of God in this song then I would say the same. Ozzy routinely throughout the years always tells the crowd "God bless you all". My point here is to have you look at Sabbath in a little different light. Wearing crosses around your neck is a symbol of Jesus' crucifiction not devil worship. A few years later after leaving Sabbath, Ozzy sang these lyrics in a song,"They say I worship the devil, why don't they open their eyes?, I'm just a rock n roll rebel". This is not just a quality song lyrically but also musicall. It flows nicely and is definetly one of Ozzy's masterpeices vocally.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the beginnings of doom metal my friends..the beginning.., October 26, 2004

By	magician of sadness "forbidden_sorcery" (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

Its clear listening to bands like Cathedral or Electric Wizard that they were heavily influenced by Black Sabbath.From beginning to end Master Of Reality has a heaviness that's missing from any other Sabbath album ever recorded.The low distortion,the trudging,plodding pace,all that's missing is the depressing lyrical content and we'd have a Candlemass album.All of the songs truly shine with a life of their own.From the opener Sweet Leaf to the closing and heaviest Sabbath song ever written Into the Void,this is a stellar album that in my opinion is arguably one of the best and most underrated heavy metal albums in existence.My personal favorites here are Children of the Grave,Into the Void and the perfectly melancholy Solitude which one could view as the precursor to Volume 4's ballad Changes.Also check the album's second song for further proof that the members of Sabbath weren't satanists.This is by far my favorite Sabbath album and after a few dozen listens,it'll be yours too.