Sabbath goes Christian! (?) (!!) (???) (!!!!)
Wait a minute, wait a minute... this is a Christian album? Is Black Sabbath going all Jesus freak on us? Um... what the hell? Why is Ozzy telling me that God is the only way to love? Okay, this is getting on my nerves. I'm gonna go listen to something else.

But wait! This album's good! Very, very, very good! Tony Iommi touched on the overlord of guitar tones here. Like your guitars deep, heavy, grumbly, thick, and evil? Oh, then you've got 'em all over this record. Check out "Sweet Leaf." A song and a half, that "Sweet Leaf!" Or, more accurately, a riff and a half! Ah yeah, man. The ultimate pothead theme song. I'm a-thinkin' it's Sabbath's very best song, with only two real competitors. One of them is "Symptom of the Universe..."

...and the other is "Children of the Grave," which is right here, on this very album! What's better than a song with one great guitar riff? Two great guitar riffs! What's better than a song with two great guitar riffs? A song with one of those guitar riffs played on guitar and the other played on a heavy, distorted, Jack Bruce-like bass that sounds like a guitar! It's really fast, too. It's one of those quintessential proto-thrash songs, along with "Symptom," "Paranoid," "Achilles Last Stand," and probably something by Motorhead. The song just keeps on delivering one great guitar part after another. There's even a slow section with haunting keyboard embellishments! Score! And it's anti-war, and if you ask me that's reason enough for it to be cool. Something tells me Geezer Butler didn't like war. I mean, "War Pigs," "Electric Funeral," and now this. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

"After Forever" is also great. Despite it being one of the more overtly Christian songs on this album, it's got the same heavy, sludgy doom riff we know from Black Sabbath. Totally grooves, too. Did I mention that those three songs are all on side one? Something about side one of Black Sabbath albums. Consider how amazing the first sides of Paranoid, Master of Reality, and Sabotage are for a minute. On the other hand, side two is a bit of a letdown. The Jesus anthem "Lord of This World" is a fine slab of sludge, though I still can't get over how weird it is hearing a band named Black Sabbath singing about the healing powers of God. But I don't really like the rest. "Solitude" is terrible, as a first. Black Sabbath should not be doing weepy, melotron-laced ballads. Some people can pull it off, but Sabbath can't. "Into the Void" is pretty much by-numbers sludge. And "Orchid" is a lousy acoustic instrumental. Iommi rocked the electric guitar, but Steve Howe he was not.

Still, a fine follow-up to the indisputable classic Paranoid.

Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality I hadn't listened to this album since I bought it on cassette many years ago. It was as good as I remember! If you're a Black Sabbath fan from back in the day, this is a must for your collection. A classic indeed.

One of the greatest Metal albums of alltime
This album basically pioneered the Metal genre. The heaviest Sabbath has ever done by far, wayyyy far. From the opening song "Sweet Leaf" to the closing song "Into The Void", you are in a trance, literally. Oh sure, Black Sabbath (the first album) and Paranoid were classic albums, they just didn't have the metal sound to them that Master does. Master is regarded as the album that opened the doors to the other kinds of experimental metal, such as doom and sludge.

Absolute classic
The last truly flawless Sabbath album, from the frenzied first year(s)... before the drugs and turmoil really started to set in. Sludge, doom and stoner metal nuts... listen up, 'cause this is the ONE!!!

I learned to play guitar to THIS album... not "Smoke On the Water" or "Iron Man"... "Sweet Leaf" has to be one of the best Sabbath songs ever (relatively easy to play, as well, for you aspiring guitar players)... "Children of the Grave" and "Into the Void" are personal favorites, as well.

Timeless, crushing, heavy, blistering, and a blueprint of how to do it right.

Master of Reality
ESSENTIAL ALBUM!!! Black Sabbath's third studio album peaked at #8 & is one of their very best. It was the second one they released in 1971 & I consider it to be better than Paranoid.

There are eight songs on the album, of the eight only the very short instrumental "Embryo" misses the mark, but at 28 seconds in length it's not long enough to bother me. "Children of the Grave" & "Into the Void" are the two outstanding tracks here. They're among the best ever recorded by Black Sabbath. The latter one is a science fiction work & was becoming popular as material for songs at that time. "Sweet Leaf" was the song that got the most airplay from Master of Reality, along with "Lord of This World" & "Solitude" are very good songs. The latter one is a ballad; Ward on occasions would do the vocals for these type of songs. "Orchid", another instrumental, & "After Forever" are average songs that pale somewhat against the rest of the album.

Riff-master Tony Iommi shines again as lead guitarist, I'm still surprised that he doesn't receive more accolades than he does. Of course Ozzy was the frontman & one of the best in rock; whenever a band has someone out front as dynamic as Ozzy, it makes it harder for the rest of the band members to receive their credit. The classic line up of Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler & Bill Ward, is one of the most talented from the seventies. It's good to see that they finally made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.