Label: Teichiku Records (Japan), TECP-23938
Style: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Country: Birmingham, England
Time: 34:31
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 220 Mb
Charts: UK #5, AUS #8, CAN #6, FIN #3, GER #5, NL #10, NOR #12, SWE #8, US #8. UK: Gold; CAN: Platinum; US: 2x Platinum.
While
“Paranoid” is the defining album of Black Sabbath’s career, little
attention is paid to its follow-up “Master of Reality”. “Master of
Reality” was, incredibly, produced by Black Sabbath just a few short
months after “Paranoid”, this is quite extraordinary seeing as almost no
band has made so many albums in such a short time, especially albums of
this magnitude.
Again, Sabbath wallows in the bluesy rock that they
had on both their debut and “Paranoid”, however this is the most
hard-hitting of all of them. Gone are the aimless jams of their debut
(unless you want to nitpick about “Embryo” and “Orchid”, acoustic guitar
pieces which together come in at less than two minutes), also while
just as riff driven as “Paranoid”, “Master of Reality” focus’s on the
rhythm to a much larger extent.
Continuing the trend of “Paranoid”
each member continues to become more proficient in their individual
instruments. Ozzy screams and yells, for maybe the most powerful vocal
performance of his career, though hints of his signature mechanical,
overdubbed vocals appear on “Master of Reality”. Tony Iommi again shows
off his riffing prowess, and possibly the best performance of his
career. Bassist Geezer Butler provides the rhythm backbone of the band,
and on “Master of Reality” where there is much more of a rhythmic focus
his contributions can’t be given credit enough. Bill Ward, as usually,
provides a solid, but jam band-esque, performance, however, it must be
noted, is the very John Bonham style slowly creeping into his style.
Another
key factor of “Master of Reality” is its lyrical theme and overall
mood. Well, as usually for Sabbath, this preaches of struggle, drugs,
and sci-fi. Also, while “Hand of Doom” may have given the genre of Doom
Metal its title, “Master of Reality” contributes much more to the genres
sound.
And for material contained within “Master of Reality”, just
more classic Black Sabbath, that’s all. “Master of Reality” contains so
many classics, it’s not even funny. From “Sweat Leaf” and “Children of
the Grave”, to “Into the Void” and “After Forever” and the absolute gem
“Lord of This World”, “Master of Reality” packs quite a punch.
Overall,
Black Sabbath’s “Master of Reality” is their single most consistent,
strongest effort of their career. While “Paranoid” gets much of the
fanfare and glory, “Master of Reality” out does it, and then some.
Should you get this? YES! No matter you’re favorite genre of metal is,
this one is for you, particularly anyone who has any interest in doom
metal.
(metal-archives.com/reviews/Black_Sabbath/Master_of_Reality/487/) Review by erickg13, January 1st, 2007
Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog.
D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The
second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the
format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).
01. Sweet Leaf (05:05)
02. After Forever (05:26)
03. Embryo (00:28)
04. Children Of The Grave (05:17)
05. Orchid (01:31)
06. Lord Of This World (05:26)
07. Solitude (05:02)
08. Into The Void (06:13)
No comments:
Post a Comment