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Master Of Reality | 
| Artist: Black Sabbath
Label: Sanctuary
Category: Music
List Price: £5.99
Buy New: £3.97
You Save: £2.02 (34%)
New (41) Used (5) from £3.24
Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 1102
Format: Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Running Time: 34
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.4
UPC: 766482301126
EAN: 5050749203328
ASIN: B00022TPT8
Release Date: February 26, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Sweet Leaf | | • | After Forever | | • | Embryo | | • | Children Of The Grave | | • | Orchid | | • | Lord Of This World | | • | Solitude | | • | Into The Void |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Greatest rock album ever July 21, 2008
I'm gonna keep this pretty short,in a nut shell this is the greatest rock album ever,riffs to blow you into the 22nd century,and beyound. Sounds as fantastic today as when it came out.
 You need Black Sabbath! ! ! ! ! June 18, 2008
Well this is my third edit of this review as my opinions about this have changed dramatically. I am now officially obsessed with Black Sabbath wether it's the Ozzy era or Dio era(sorry never a big fan of Tony Martin it wasn't just nothing special). Every album is fantastic as it has Tony Iommi on guitar and he's one of my favourite guitarists(being a beginner guitarist myself I look up to him). This album is a grower but every great album takes a couple of listens to get into (don't they?).
I think the best song here are After Forever & Children Of The Grave both are one of my favourite Sabbath songs. The riff in Children Of The Grave is awesome it's dark and fast and will be in your head for weeks. After Forever is a great song as they turned away from the doom too show that's not what they are all about. The main problem I think that people will have is Ozzy as he is an acquired taste so if you hate his vocals it will be hard too get into this album but in my opinion he is a great volcalist not as good as Dio but he just fits on this album, and he was awesome back in the day.
As a 17 year old metalhead who like a variety of genres in metal and music together If you are a metalhead without a Black Sabbath album buy their self - titled debut sorry that's just a perfect introduction to these guys. But if you have that then I totally recommend this and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. NO METALHEAD SHOULD BE WITHOUT BLACK SABBATH PERIOD IT'S A SIN NOT TOO LIKE BLACK SABBATH! ! ! ! !
Black Sabbath At Their Career Peak September 10, 2007
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
"Master of Reality" is the epitome of Black Sabbath's monolithic riff-fuelled rock. If you want music with heavy, bluesy and infectious riffs, melodic vocals and breath-taking guitar solos, then look no further than "Master of Reality".
This is one of those special albums where every track has become a classic over the years. It all starts with the fantastic "Sweet Leaf", which was initially my favourite song on the album. "Sweet Leaf" kicks the album off in style and lays down the foundations perfectly. The opening cough/splutter sample gives meaning to the title, and sets up one of the most prominent themes and influences for the band - marijuana. This was truly the start of stoner rock. Please don't think that this stupefies the music in any way - an accusation I have heard many a time when listing stoner rock as one of my favourite genres. Yes, this album is a great experience when ripped, as are the best of the modern day stoner albums, but don't be put off thinking a sober state will forge no rewards. Bong or no bong, this is one of the best rock albums ever made.
The riffs. Let me talk about some of the timeless riffs on this album. Riffs that over the years have become massively influential and classic in every sense of the word. It is through no chance or overreaction that people nowadays refer to some guitar riffs and leads as "Sabbath-esque" or "Sabbathy". The grand onslaught of these riffs starts with the simplistic and contagious lead to "Sweet Leaf", one of my favourite riffs ever conceived. The glory to this riff, and with the majority of Tony Iommi's genius craft, is the simplicity - sacrificing complex timings, extra ghost notes and fancy finger work for simple motifs. The emphasis is put firmly on execution and groove. Take for example the riff changeups in the fine closer "Into The Void", going from the fine rolling and laid-back intro riff to some ferocious muted riffing, all complemented perfectly by Ozzy's high and melodic vocals. All of this combines to make one of the album's finest moments. Then there's "Children of the Grave" which stretches the simplicity to a basic rolling note, repeated in a galloping time signature, augmented by the occasional menacing chord progression. This song was really ahead of its time, paving the way for the galloping marches of the finest Iron Maiden. What makes these riffs even better is the structure of the songs, which are intelligent and keep the various riffs fresh. For example, the changeups in "After Forever" evolve around a repetitive lead riff which gives way to various themes and new riffs, but always returns to retain the original flow and groove. Call them stoners, but this is intelligent song writing, and something ensued throughout the album.
So the song writing is clever. It keeps the riffs fresh and interesting and manages to hold the fantastic groove. However, it is the overall writing and structuring of the album as a whole that I find most impressive. The balance of "Master of Reality" is perfect and superior to any of their other albums. There are no overly long songs, as all are between 5 and 7 minutes. The effect of this gives the album a special kind of flow that is often lacking in their other releases. "Embryo" and "Orchid" are short little pieces that act as introductions rather than fillers, and again retain the sense of flow as they are not too long or boring.
Mention should of course go to Ozzy Osbourne. In my opinion Sabbath simply isn't Sabbath without Ozzy on the vocals. His voice has become one of the most distinctive and acclaimed in rock history, and rightly so. He has what all the best rock singers have - the ability to hit the right notes, often quite high ones, and an idiosyncratic style that is instantly recognisable. The Black Sabbath sound is rounded off perfectly by this master vocalist, best highlighted by his inspired deliveries on "Children of the Grave" and "Into The Void".
Any fan of rock music should enjoy this album. It has every ingredient that makes rock so enjoyable - powerful and inspired vocals, stunning guitar solos and riffs, solid bass playing and some stellar drumming. Black Sabbath at the pinnacle of their career.
 It's just dire. Sorry! May 29, 2007
5 out of 27 found this review helpful
I haven't had this album for 25 years, having decided long ago that it was less than worthy, but lately I started wondering if maybe it was time for a reappraisal. So, throwing caution to the wind, I ignored my usually trusty maxim `If you didn't like it then, you probably won't like it now', and purchased a copy. Was my 5.95 well spent? I listened to it last night, whilst reading in the liner notes that Tony Iommi had promised Sabbath fans that this third album would be `the heaviest yet', and also that MoR is reckoned by the Black Sabbath-loving community to be one of the (if not THE) classic Sabbath albums. A quick trawl through Amazon album reviews in general is enough to demonstrate that no matter how suspect an album is, there's always someone who believes it to be the best thing since sliced bread. Since there's no accounting for taste, statements about an album's classic status must be taken with a pinch of salt, although occasionally you may find yourself in agreement. Well, in this instance I most definitely am not. I was right, all those years ago, this album is dire. Strangely, I found myself anticipating almost every note as I listened with growing disbelief at its manifest awfulness - there must have been a time when I listened to it a lot (perhaps around 1980, before becoming more discriminating in my musical tastes, or when my paper round money stretched to worthier LPs). The guitar sound remains unimaginatively unchanged throughout - a woeful and muddily distorted dirge. The lumbering chord-based riffs are corny, even amateur sounding. The guitar solos are of the tuneless and pointless jumble-of-notes sort, sounding in some places exactly like those that appeared on previous album tracks, only worse. The plodacious rhythm section doesn't help, with its pedestrian drumming and bumbling bass. The lyrics are largely rubbish, Ozzy's voice sounds even shriller and weedier than usual, the song-writing is totally without finesse or subtlety, and the recorded sound quality is awful. Overall, the album production is pants in the extreme. By the standards of the time MoR may have been heavy, but today it just sounds feeble. To be fair, there is one half-decent song: `Sweet Leaf', but it must be no coincidence that the compilers of the 16 track double compilation album from the period: `We Sold Our Souls For Rock n Roll' saw fit to include only this and one other song from MoR - the others aren't exactly a showcase for their skills. In my view MoR is the nadir rather than the pinnacle of Ozzy-period Sabbath. It seems the band just didn't make much effort, as also indicated by the short running time of just over 34 minutes. Even that was padded out with two rubbishy, though thankfully quite short, instrumentals. To cap it all, the whole album is suffused with a depressing atmosphere of gloomy lethargy. It's hard to believe that this is the same band that later produced really classic, really heavy, really imaginative rock albums such as Sabotage and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.
The brilliant 3rd December 7, 2006
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
Most bands release a good 1st album, they`ve been playin most of it live and when they get to the studio its recorded in a couple of takes. The 2nd album is normally left overs from the 1st with one or two newies. So when you get to record the 3rd album it can be the make or break. Lucky for us ,sabbath had`nt run out of ideas in fact , they were progressing and Master of reality is a brilliant 3rd offering . if you like sabbath then this is just :up your street; and this just proves what brill musicians they are Geezers bass lines are so imaginative ! Tony seems to pluck corking riffs outta mid air,Bill`s drumming solid and groovin` , still under rated and the icing on the cake has to be Ozzy`s vocals....Great stuff indeed!
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