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Track Listing: Sweet Leaf After Forever Embryo Children Of The Grave Orchid Lord Of This World Solitude Into The Void

From the opening 5 second intro of Tony Iommi's coughing, seemingly traveling through your brain from right to left, we are introduced to the dawn of a new age in music ... Stoner Metal and believe it or not, Christian Metal.

July 21, 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of the release of Master Of Reality. A landmark album in the history of heavy metal. The first two Black Sabbath albums were tuned to standard E tuning. However, due to the pain and difficulty of playing guitar in this tuning, Master Of Reality showcases the first time that Tony Iommi down tuned his guitar three half steps from E to a C-sharp. This was due to an earlier industrial accident in 1965 in which Iommi, at age 17, lost the tips of his ring and middle fingers on his right hand. The result was a much darker, sludgier, heavier sound that quickly arrested the attention of listeners. It cannot be denied that Master Of Reality has been extremely influential to a slew of bands in the last 20 years that down tune to D or even C as a normal practice.

I can remember in middle school and high school, "Sweet Leaf" being one of those obligatory tunes at numerous keg parties in the woods or at friend's houses while their parents were away for the weekend. The air would be filled with smoke, setting the mood for the rest of the album. The 2nd track, "After Forever", definitely created discussion because of its blatantly Christian lyrics ("Could it be you're afraid of what your friends might say if they knew you believed in God above. They should realize before they criticize that God is the only way to love."). As a Christian, I found myself defending Black Sabbath as being misunderstood since most people only saw the surface image of the band and never really delved into the deeper meaning behind the message of most of their songs.

At 28 seconds long, I always thought of the 3rd track, "Embryo", as the intro to "Children of the Grave", a solid anti-war anthem in which Sabbath openly sang about their opposition to the Vietnam War. Noticeably highlighted is Bill Ward's drumming between verses with those unmistakable odd sounding toms that just worked for the song. The song "Orchid" beautifully leads off side 2 of the album with acoustic simplicity transitioning into the thunderous "Lord of this World". A mid-tempo classic that just screams SABBATH!! The next song, "Solitude", is aptly titled for its haunting sadness and hits close to home for those of us who have suffered through the pain of losing a loved one through betrayal and divorce. Yet, somehow, there is tremendous comfort in listening to the woe in Ozzy's voice, Geezer Butler's alluring bass line and elegant flute playing by Tony Iommi. The album concludes with the metal monster "Into the Void", a song about the folly of space travel while the Earth is dying a slow death due to pollution. (Remember Iron Eyes Cody, the Native-American shedding a tear because of the rampant pollution of the 1970's, in the "Keep America Beautiful" commercials?) After a heavy, slow grinding intro, the song kicks into what has become a classic style chunking riff, which all metal guitarists have since emulated.

The only reason I have given "Master Of Reality" 9 out of 10 stars is that at 34 minutes long, it's too short of an album and feels more like an EP and I am left wanting more.

However, looking at the world of metal today 40 years after its release, it is clear that Black Sabbath's "Master Of Reality", has influenced and will continue to influence heavy metal for many years to come.

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