Rhino Factoids: Black Sabbath Begins Recording Master of Reality

44 years ago today, Black Sabbath began the process of recording what would prove to be one of the shortest LPs of their career, but that hasn’t stopped it from being defined as one of the band’s all-time greatest albums.

Listeners who were new to Black Sabbath might not have noticed anything particularly unique about Master of Reality, but those who’d been following the band since the beginning were aware that the album had a sound which was noticeably different from the albums which had preceded it. That sonic shift was the result of guitarist Tony Iommi opting to de-tune his guitar down three semi-tones, thereby reducing string tension and making it easier for him to play. Given the injuries he’d sustained to his fingers a few years earlier, this change was decidedly helpful, but when bassist Geezer Butler followed suit with his own instrument, the end result made for music which has been described as dark and sludgy.

As for the songs themselves, the material on Master of Reality is a mix of the slow and heavy songs listeners had come to expect from the band and some quiet ballads composed by Iommi, some instrumental (“Embryo”), some with vocals (“Solitude”), but it’s songs like opener “Sweet Leaf” and “Children of the Grave” that have become known as the album’s definitive tracks. The one single from the album, “After Forever,” may not have charted, but Master of Reality itself went into the Top 10 on both sides of the pond, further cementing Black Sabbath’s stature as one of the greatest rock bands of their day.