Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality

RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK

Black Sabbath – Master Of Reality

This week’s Recommendation of the Week is an album that changed my life forever. It was the beginning of my true obsession with music, vinyl records, and the reason I started to play the guitar. Master Of Reality by Black Sabbath is the genesis, the “Big Bang” of Heavy Metal. It has influenced more people in music than not and continues to sound fresh, powerful and impactful just as it did on its release day 55 years ago. It continues to be the inspiration for so many. Released this week in 1971, it still sounds just as Earth shattering as it did then. It also, as an anniversary goes, coincides with the one-year memorial of the passing of my Lord and Savior, Ozzy Osbourne, who physically left this Earth on July 22, 2025.

First, I am compelled to begin with some words of reflection of the passing of Ozzy, as we look back at the year since he departed our cruel world. I will never forget the moment that these words reached my brain:

"Ozzy Osbourne (December 3, 1948 – July 22, 2025)"

I read these words in the early afternoon of July 22, while finishing up work for the day. I felt my heart stop, and time seemed to stop with it and devolve into a slow-motion whirlwind of memories, both visually and sonically. I felt like I heard every Ozzy’s voice circling all around me at once. It was pretty intense! In the days and weeks after that moment, I struggled with my own reflection on the grief and loss of my hero. I was truly sad, and I felt deep emptiness like when my mother passed in 2014. Not fully the same, of course, but the sadness was significant and overwhelmed me at times. I remember asking myself, “How can I be so sad over someone I never met…some singer…some celebrity”. It ate at me and made me feel very self-conscious and a little uncomfortable. However, I couldn’t escape how truly sad it made me, and still now, I miss Ozzy dearly and feel immense loss and grief each time I hear his music.

The reason I felt this way is because Ozzy is so much more than just a singer. He was an instrumental part of my life, and my story is not the same with him.

My love of Ozzy started back as a little kid in the 80’s. It was 1984, and my babysitter lived a few houses down from me, and for a moment, I was being watched by her brother.  I was just 4 at the time, and it was summer. I remember his room - it seemed so intimidating, but also so cool! What stood out to me was that he had two posters on his wall, ones that have left vivid imagery and impact on my brain forever. The first was a Quiet Riot poster, which was the Bang Your Head (Metal Health) cover with the kid in the mask. It is a classic early 80’s image, and one that was plastered all over MTV in those days. That one was nice, but the other one was where my focus went to. How could it not? It was the depiction of a demon, in the center of a room, which looked like an attic, staring through me and possessing my soul. It is an image that I would never forget, and one that would influence and shape my life forever. That poster, which scared me at the time, also created an obsession in me. It was Ozzy, looking like a Demonic Entity, hold a crucifix and peering into my soul. At 4, it was Terrifying. It was Incredible. It was Awesome!

Years later, when I was around 8, I rediscovered that poster's image while watching MTV. During one of the videos, I saw it on an album cover. I learned it was Ozzy, and even though I only saw it for a moment, the impact was there. Shortly after that, I was in Strawberries, the long-gone Boston area music store. I was in Lynn, at the store on Boston Street with my mother. I looked at all the music and then I saw it. Right in front of me, and then in my hands, that image that haunted and possessed me when I was 4. That beautifully awesome demon had surfaced in the form of a cassette in my posession. It was Ozzy Osbourne and it was the Blizzard Of Oz album. That was the image that I was obsessed with.  All these years later, I still am and it is one of my favorite albums ever. I was allowed to purchase the tape and took it home to listen to. I found that it had one of favorite songs, “Crazy Train”, that I loved from MTV! That day was the first time I heard “Mr. Crowley”. I thought that it couldn’t get any better than that.

In a few years, I found that it does and my life would change once again!

Going into the summer of 1994, I was 14 years old, and I had seen a carving on a desk in my Spanish class. Cut deeply and colored faintly in purple pencil or marker, that carving was a logo of some kind. It was just words, but they were mesmerizing. Those words were Black Sabbath. Every time I sat at this desk, I was obsessed by this logo.  What was Black Sabbath? At that point, I didn’t know. I just knew I needed to know. Considering I went to Catholic school, seeing that logo was like an omen, and I wanted to know everything about it! I did find out what Black Sabbath meant and was. It was the legendary Heavy Metal band, of course! Well, now I knew I needed to hear their music. I even found out that it was Ozzy’s band! I loved Ozzy! How did I not know this? Well, when no one tells you about music, and there isn’t the internet, you must find out on your own. That summer, I was ready to know. I needed to know!

As far as music is concerned, I knew Ozzy. I loved Ozzy, and at that point I had for many years! I loved his Blizzard Of Oz and Diary Of A Madman albums so much, and owned very well, worn cassette copies of both. I loved No More Tears, which was released a couple years earlier in 1991, and I looked forward to seeing his videos on Headbangers Ball every Saturday night on MTV.

Now, the moment of truth. My “true” musical awakening. So, I found out what Black Sabbath was and I wanted to know more!  I made a trip to my local record store, The Record Exchange in Salem MA, and asked them for where their Black Sabbath tapes were. There, in the used tape rack, I saw that beautiful, purple lettering. The album was Master Of Reality and it was only $1. In 1994, that's how much used cassettes cost. I bought it and headed home to see what it was all about.

When I got home, I popped the tape in my Walkman. From the opening cough and first chords of “Sweet Leaf”, I was hooked!  Every note, chord and riff sounded like the most powerful force that the world had ever known! This was a significant album, and I felt it pass through my brain, commanding every move and possessing my soul. The album is nothing short of incredible, and I still get chills thinking about that first listen. It is my favorite album by Black Sabbath, and one of my top 5 favorite albums ever recorded. It was after I heard the song, “Children Of The Grave” that I knew that music was my life’s calling. I knew I wanted to play it, breathe it, feel it, touch it, taste it, and I wanted to uncover all its mysteries. Upon completion of the final notes of “Into The Void”, the last song on the album, I almost felt sad, like a great loss had occurred.  I immediately started the tape over again and this time listened deeper.

Master Of Reality is Black Sabbath’s 3rd album. It is the birth of Doom, Sludge and Stoner Metal, as the genres are labeled now. It is the birth of Heavy Metal as we know it today. It is the blueprint for heavy music, and its sound has been borrowed by countless bands in the last 55 years. In all the attempts to duplicate its tone and feel, no one has ever come close. It has been tried millions of times, and the music never sounds as powerful, fresh and fierce as it does on Master Of Reality. That guitar tone has a story to it. Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath’s guitarist, was working at a glass factory at the time of its recording, upon his mother’s request that he had a “real” job. At work, he had a mishap and cut the tips of his fingers off, on what would be his fret hand. Devastated, he scrambled for a solution so that he could still play guitar and pursuit his passion. Using thimbles and tape, he made makeshift “caps” for his stubbed fingers. He used lighter gauge strings and dropped the tuning to “D”, to make it easier for string bending. In doing this, he inadvertently created the signature Doom sound that envelops the album. This tuning can be found all over heavy music, particularly music of the early 1990s, where Black Sabbath’s influence and importance was much like water for sustaining human life. It is a sound and tone that has inspired every metal guitarist since, including myself.

As I listened to this album hundreds of times that summer, I knew I wanted to play the guitar. I wanted to be Tony Iommi. For my 15th birthday, in September 1994, my mother bought me a Fender Strat that I picked out at my local music store, which closed in 1995. It was a stunning Mexican Strat that I still have it today - it still sounds beautiful!

I owe a life of music fandom and appreciation to Master Of Reality. It changed my life, my passions, my everything. I started collecting records because of this album, and a few years later, I got my first copy on vinyl. Today, I have an original German pressing, with the iconic poster insert. It is one of my most cherished possessions!

From start to finish, there are few, if any, albums that impact like Master Of Reality. I can’t recommend it enough, and if you’ve never heard it, then please go stream it or get a copy in your hands today. It is the pinnacle testament to the power for music and why it is so important to human existence.

In retrospect, that first moment I first heard those notes,  it was as if the skies opened, the Earth cracked and everything froze in time. It was pure power, pure magic and a piece of that feeling carries through me on each listen since. I owe everything to that album, and I can truly look back and say that it raised me, educated me and saved me.   

I look back at that summer in 1994 and realize that while some people seek salvation and find it in Jesus, I found my salvation in Black Sabbath for just $1. 

I have been living in their gospel ever since

Essential Track: “Children Of The Grave”