Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. Today we go back in time exactly half a century to July 21, 1971. It’s been a busy year and a half for Black Sabbath. On February 13, 1970, they singlehandedly and unintentionally invent heavy metal with the release of their self titled debut: a collection of dark and demonic blues rockers. On September 18, 1970, Sabbath shed their blues and jam band leanings with the release of their second album, Paranoid: an album that fully embraced the new leanings of their debut. And on this day 50 years ago, Sabbath upped the ante yet again with the release of album number 3, Master of Reality. Today’s essay will attempt to explain Master of Reality’s significance to the development of heavy metal, as if the music doesn’t already speak for itself. Are you ready to step “Into the Void”?
Before they became known as the godfathers of heavy metal, Black Sabbath were once another example of the old music industry’s endless “album, tour, repeat” cycle. Within less than a year, they had written and recorded two full length albums. Both their self titled and Paranoid broke onto the British charts. The latter earned them a spot on the legendary English television program Top of the Pops, on which they performed a live rendition of “Paranoid”. The next obvious step was to break into the American market. A record contract with Warner Bros. helped them do exactly that.
By late 1970, Sabbath was performing residencies at the famed Fillmore East and Whisky a Go Go. By early 1971, they were opening for bands such as Grand Funk Railroad, Mountain, and Fleetwood Mac. Yes, a pre-Buckingham/Nicks Fleetwood Mac. Word spread fast. Both Sabbath and Warner Bros. knew they had to strike while they iron was hot to keep interest alive. This led to a two month stint at Island Studios in London, where they’d record their third album, Master of Reality.
Just as Paranoid was a musical deviation from their debut, Master of Reality was a musical deviation from Paranoid. For this album, Sabbath went darker, slower, and heavier, subsequently laying the groundwork for stoner metal, doom metal, and sludge metal. There were proto-doom elements on past Sabbath releases (i.e. “Black Sabbath”, “Electric Funeral”, “Hand of Doom”), but Master of Reality is the first album where every song can fit within the stoner, doom, or sludge label. All this a good 15 years before each genre found its foothold within the metal pantheon.
The album opens with the iconic cough of Tony Iommi, candidly captured by the rest of the band as he was hitting a joint. The cough would be used as the intro to the appropriately titled “Sweet Leaf”. Lyrically and musically, “Sweet Leaf” marks the birth of stoner metal. Iommi’s ganja scented riffs engulf the listener and serve as the perfect backdrop to Ozzy Osbourne’s loving lyrics.
“My life was empty, forever on a down
Until you took me, showed me around
My life is free now, my life is clear
I love you sweet leaf, though you can’t hear”
It wasn’t uncommon for rock bands to sing about marijuana in 1971. It was uncommon, however, for rock bands to proclaim the word of God. Sabbath did exactly that on one of the most unorthodox songs in their catalog, “After Forever”. Despite being synonymous with witches, demons, black magic, and all other things occult and satanic, Sabbath repeatedly renounced being satanists. “After Forever” was more than a renouncing. It was a rebuking. Geezer Butler’s lyrics attacked the anti-Christian rhetoric among the youth culture, questioning atheism the same way they questioned God.
“Embryo” is a brief 30 second calm before the storm that is “Children of the Grave”. Whereas “After Forever” broke new lyrical ground for Sabbath, “Children of the Grave” marked a return to a theme that they knew all too well: war. With the Vietnam War still raging on, and fear of the draft being all too real, “Children of the Grave” served as a beacon of hope amidst a mushroom cloud of destruction. It echoed the sentiment that only the youth could change their future. Sabbath and most other discouraged young folk had given up on the “War Pigs” sung about on Paranoid to do anything other than cause more grief.
As we flip over to side B, we’re greeted by a lush, acoustic instrumental entitled “Orchid”. This oft forgotten piece is a foreshadowing of things to come for Sabbath. On subsequent albums, they’d incorporate acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers, strings, and choirs, expanding their sonic palette and releasing masterpieces on par with their heroes, The Beatles. Until then, “Orchid” serves as a brief taste before the bludgeoning that is “Lord of This World”. Although sludge metal is characterized as the amalgamation of doom metal and hardcore punk, there’s something sludgy about “Lord of This World” long before the establishment of both doom and hardcore. Iommi’s riffs are nasty and abrasive, more so than on any other Sabbath songs up until this point. The lyrics continue the Christian theme of “After Forever”, although are far more veiled. They were written about Satan and his chokehold of evil on the world, but can apply to anyone with nefarious and manipulative intent.
“Solitude” marks Sabbath’s second excursion into soft rock territory, the first being Paranoid‘s “Planet Caravan”. Although “Planet Caravan” is far more acclaimed, I’ve always felt “Solitude” is the far superior song. The melancholic melodies, autumnal atmosphere, gentle vocals, and crestfallen lyrics coalesce to create a spine chilling masterpiece. It proved that Sabbath could be just as effective unplugged as they were plugged in. Heaviness comes in various shades. Sometimes it’s in the form of a cerebral piece like “Solitude” that predates Alice in Chains’ similarly fashioned Jar of Flies EP by nearly 25 years. Other times it’s in the form of arguably the greatest riff in metal history. “Into the Void” lives up to its name, taking us deep into a lyrical and musical void. 50 years later and Iommi’s opening riff is still as devastating today as it was then. Then again, if you’re going to tell a tale as glum as that of a man fleeing a post-apocalyptic earth to live onwards “Into the Void”, you need an equally glum riff.
Master of Reality only continued Sabbath’s reign as the dark lords of heavy metal. From here, the venues got bigger and chart positions got higher. The band members themselves got higher as well. When Sabbath relocated to Los Angeles to record Vol. 4, the simple vice of marijuana was soon traded for the luxury known as cocaine, but that’s another story for another day.