Master Of Reality - Song By Song breakdown.

[Zzzptm]

Yes, it's the intro section to...

Truly a monster of a song. If Black Sabbath haven't invented Heavy Metal yet, then this song does it, 100% bona fide. The relentless riff conquers all in this song. The middle bit and solo are nice, but it's that riff that rules the tune, start to finish. Everything is on the riff, driving it home.

[Charger]

Children Of The Grave was Sabbath's take on the galloping riff. This probably was indeed Sabbath's first HEAVY METAL song. Faster, heavy and still doomy track.

The riff is without a doubt one of the most iconic ones in history.

This song too suffers a bit from being over played and is pretty much the only non Paranoid album track being played on the radio. (Part from the occational Heaven And Hell and Neon Knights).

Geezer's lyrics are kind of timeless and gets the message through. But I'm with ZZZ and will say this song is all about that riff. Heck all you need to do is think about the song and you start humming that riff right away.

[Zzzptm]

Yep. The riff ran through my head as I read your post, Charger.

In the USA, it's never played. We just have Paranoid, Iron Man, and Heaven and Hell. And then Time Machine (Wayne's World Version) when that movie came out. That's it for Sabbath on the radio here with our "classic rock" formatting.

Now I can't NOT think of the riff. That's a good riff, for sure.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

I think I've said before that I don't know why this is such a classic and a staple of the set list. Not because I don't like the song but because they've done much better which have been forgotten.

But to clarify I do quite like the song! Probably my 3rd favourite on the album!

[Charger]

Orchid is another nice Iommi instrumental. It too flows very nicely and doesn't out last it's welcome. It works as a perfect intro to the doomiest song on the album.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Yes, Orchid is a good little instrumental, and is actually one which maybe could have been a little longer.

[Typhon]

I very much enjoy the BFTO tune that is Orchid.   

[Zzzptm]

That it was chosen to lead off side two, though, puzzles me. It does work in the overall flow of end-to-end listening, CD-style, but kinda messes up the flow of the second side for me.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Lord of this World now. My favourite track off the album, a little quirky, perhaps even a little catchy, but I like it a lot.

[Charger]

Lord Of This World is hands down the best track on the album. It is Sabbath at it's Doomiest and finest to be honest.

A great solid track with great lyrics and a monster riff accompanied by a great rythm section and vocals.

Such an underrated gem this one...it only got a handful of live outings during the Reunion tour which was a real shame. This should have been the staple instead of Sweet Leaf...although at the same time I do understand why SL got the slot as it's always "cool" to do songs about drugs.

[Typhon]

Lord Of This World is solid Sabbath in every way.  All 4 band members shine pretty much equally.  I especially love the tick, tick, tick sound that Bill is making during the chorus.    I'm not sure if he is using a bottle to do that, but I'm sure someone else must know.

[Charger]

Solitude is musically the sequal to Planet Caravan. Very similar feel and atmosphere. A very melancholic track.

I enjoy this one more than Planet Caravan. Ozzy's haunting vocals are brilliant. The last good Ozzy-era ballad. They still had the courage to be unique even in ballads at this point. Afterwards they went into the cliche section..Changes...She's Gone...yuck.

Solitude stands head and shoulders over the other ones. Musically this might not be the most variable tune, but honestly it doesn't have to be. It works perfectly as it is.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Solitude is definitely the best of the slower/ballad-y songs from the early albums (I might go with Zeitgeist from the full catalogue). The vocals are so un-Ozzy-like that I understand why people have said it must be Bill singing!

[Typhon]

Without a doubt, Solitude is my favorite BFTO song from Sabbath.  A lovely tune. 

[Zzzptm]

Catching up here...

I've got an issue with side two of MoR, as I mentioned earlier. Lord of This World starts off with a big enough riff, but then it drops into a slower tempo and kinda doesn't deliver on the promise of the opening. Then the ending of the song is very much like War Pigs' ending. It's nice, but not really something that moves me.

And then Solitude dissipates the energy again. It breaks the flow and leaves side two in a bit of a flux. Overall, I "like" the songs, but not all together like that. The whole is less than the sum of the parts, I'm afraid.