Black Sabbath: Master of Reality [RHINO / WARNER]

Why you'll love it

Master of Reality is where Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler tuned down and invented the heaviest sound in rock. It's regarded as the blueprint for stoner rock and sludge metal, and it went double platinum in the US.

This edition

• Rhino / Warner pressing
• Produced by Rodger Bain

About the album

By their third album Black Sabbath had more time in the studio and a clear idea of how heavy they wanted to be. Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler tuned their instruments down to make the riffs sound bigger and to ease the strain on Iommi's injured fingertips, and the result is one of the most crushing, influential records in metal.

"Sweet Leaf" opens with Iommi's cough and a riff like a landslide, "Children of the Grave" gallops with menace, "After Forever" shows a surprising spiritual side, and "Into the Void" is the doom-metal template that a thousand bands have borrowed from. There are quiet moments too, like the delicate "Orchid" and "Solitude." Critics shrugged in 1971; history has had the last laugh.

Also at Kops: more Black Sabbath on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Rhino / Warner, a reissue of the 1971 album.