Master of Reality
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| Master of Reality | ||
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| Studio album by Black Sabbath | ||
| Released | July 21, 1971 | |
| Recorded | Record Plant, Los Angeles, California | |
| Genre | Heavy metal | |
| Length | 33:28 | |
| Label | Vertigo (UK) Warner Bros. (US) Castle (UK) 1996 Sanctuary (UK) 2004 |
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| Producer(s) | Rodger Bain | |
| Professional reviews | ||
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| Black Sabbath chronology | ||
| Paranoid (1970) |
Master of Reality (1971) |
Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 (1972) |
Master of Reality is an album by heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in 1971 (see 1971 in music).
On this album, guitarist Tony Iommi began de-tuning his guitar down three semi-tones (or one and a half steps, or C#) to reduce tension in the strings, making it easier to play with his injured fingers.
The lyrical themes include: drugs, solitude, war and theology. Certain songs on the album had subtitles to make it look like there were more songs on the album than there actually were, such as "Children of the Grave" having a subtitle of "The Haunting."
This album is cited as an influence by many Stoner Metal and Sludge Metal artists.
On the Billboard Pop Albums chart, Master of Reality peaked at #8. In 2003, the album was ranked number 298 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The songs "Sweet Leaf" and "Children of the Grave" were released as singles.
[edit] Track listing
All songs by Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, and Ozzy Osbourne, except where noted.
- "Sweet Leaf" – 5:05
- "After Forever" (Iommi) – 5:27
- "Embryo" (Iommi) – 0:28
- "Children of the Grave" – 5:17
- "Orchid" (Iommi) – 1:30
- "Lord of This World" – 5:25
- "Solitude" – 5:02
- "Into the Void" – 6:12
[edit] Credits
- Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
- Tony Iommi – guitar, flute, piano
- Geezer Butler – bass guitar
- Bill Ward – drums, vocals
- Keef – Photography, Poster Design
- Mike Stanfod – Art Direction
