MASTER OF REALITY

The third album from Black Sabbath Master of Reality almost had to do the impossible to succeed. Master of Reality was the successor to the most famous heavy metal album ever made. Paranoid was the sophmore album from Black Sabbath and what an album. The debut from Black Sabbath was innovative and brilliant in it´s own respect but Paranoid took Black Sabbath´s concept a little further. The songs are unforgettable classics in the heavy metal world. Songs like Paranoid, Iron Man and War Pigs are heavy metal evergreens. Master of Reality doesn´t reach the same high level, but it is an excellent album of early seventies heavy metal.

The music is power chord riff based heavy metal. It´s actually pretty melodic and not that heavy compared to today´s standards, but back then this was really heavy.

The album starts with the ode to pot Sweet Leaf and right away we´re treated to some real strong power chord riffing and Ozzy´s signature voice. One of the best odes to drugs I know. Other standout tracks on this relatively short album are Children of the Grave and Solitude. After Forever, Lord of this World and Into the Void are also great tracks. Both Embryo and Orchid are a waste of time though. Couldn´t Toni Iommi at least have tuned his guitar before recording these tunes ?

The sound quality is not very good compared to the two previous albums. It´s very murky and not nearly as powerful as Black Sabbath or Paranoid. Strange that they could get a worse production with their third album ? Well it doesn´t destroy my listening pleasure and as the songs are so good it´s still an excellent album.

Even though the songs are great, this album can´t live up to the masterpiece status of the previous two albums, but it is still an excellent heavy metal album and worth 4 stars in my book. This is highly recommendable.