BLACK SABBATH - MASTER OF REALITY (1971)
Relative to the jazzy improvisation of their self titled album, and Paranoid's concise songwriting, Black Sabbath's third album Master of Reality is really going for something very simple. This is the riff album. Yes. This is the album with the best riffs. And for such a release, there is no more power mission statement than Sweet Leaf, an ode, of course, to marijuana, over one of the greatest riffs of all time. How fitting, given this albums particular importance to sludge and stoner metal.
Children of the Grave is also a barn-burner underpinned by one of my all-time favourite riffs and powerfully melodic bass playing. After Forever, similarly, has great, classic riffs and cheeky pondering and where we go when we die. And then there's ****ing Lord of This world F U C K. Yea, master of reality has the best riffs of all time ****. I also love the interludes Embryo and Orchid, which contribute a lot to Master of Reality's strange, druggy atmosphere with some very unexpected textures, as does Solitude's surreal balladry.
The recording, too, is fantastic (like Sabbath's outings up to this point I suppose). The basslines sound juicy and the guitars are even more central here. I love it.
And it is, of course, Black Sabbath's marijuana album (perhaps in the way that Rubber Soul is for The Beatles). Vol. 4 is their cocaine album, so comparing that releases' manic scattershot energy to the repetitive grooves here might be informative. Smoke to it. You should probably smoke to it.
There are generations of metal in these riffs. You can definitely hear this album in particular in most sludge and stoner metal, I think because this was Sabbath's chunkiest, most straightforward riff-fest. Still a very high watermark for this kind of riffing and it really has to be heard to be believed. All killer no filler masterpiece.