Master Of Reality (LP)

Master Of Reality’ is the third studio album by Black Sabbath. Released in July 1971, it is widely regarded as their most sonically influential work – the foundation of doom, stoner and sludge metal. The last Black Sabbath album to be produced by Rodger Bain. It was certified double platinum after having sold over 2 million copies. ‘Master Of Reality’ was Black Sabbath's first and only top 10 album in the US until 13 forty-two years later. ‘Master Of Reality’ peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart, and at number eight in the United States, where it achieved Gold status on advance orders alone. In 2013, Mojo magazine called Master of Reality “…the sound of a band becoming increasingly comfortable in their studio surroundings.” In 1994, ‘Master Of Reality’ was ranked number 28 in Colin Larkin's Top 50 Heavy Metal Albums. Larkin described it as Black Sabbath's “first real international breakthrough” and “a remarkable piece of work”. Writing in MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (1999), authors Gary Graff and Daniel Durcholz described the album as a “brilliant skull crusher”, singling out “Children of the Grave” and “Sweet Leaf” as “timeless” tracks. In 2001, Q included the album in their list of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time, calling it “malevolent … casting Black Sabbath as a Titanic-style house band on the eve of Armageddon, cranking it as the bomb drops.” A critic for the magazine cited it as “the most cohesive record of [the band's] first three albums.” In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album number 298 in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. They described the album as representing “the greatest sludge-metal band of them all in its prime”. Billy Corgan, the leader of The Smashing Pumpkins, considered Master of Reality the album that “spawned grunge”. 180gm vinyl includes a copy of the album on CD.