50 years ago today, the first Heavy Metal band, Black Sabbath released their third album, “Master of Reality.” A landmark album, this is one of my favorites due to its huge influence on the world. We begin with guitarist Tony Iommi coughing, looped a little, then a powerhouse riff that has been sampled in hip-hop for the song “Sweet Leaf.” Yes, it is unapologetically about marijuana, one of the band’s drugs of choice at the time, and since the following album featured the song “Snowblind,” it’s safe to say they went through the gateway. However, it’s one of the more beloved songs of the band and it is instantly recognizable.
Next is the world’s first Christian Metal song, “After Forever,” an affirmation of Faith and a series of questions to someone over their disbelief in a higher power as the end approaches. “Have you ever thought about your soul, can it be saved/or perhaps you think when you’re dead, you stay in your grave?” Ozzy asks. “Could it be you’re afraid of what your friends might say if you believed in God above/They should realize before they criticize that God is the only way to love.” It’s a good clarifying song, asking you to consider seriously your place in the universe and who is at the center of it, God or yourself. The longer I live, the stranger I find it that those with little religious belief put others at the center and those who claim some religious affiliation in the United States put themselves, rather than God, at the center. Personally, I find God in others, so I put others at the center.
After a short instrumental comes one of the most famous tracks on the album, “Children of the Grave.” This was performed live by both Ozzy Osbourne and the band with Ronnie James Dio in 1981-1982, shortly after their split. It is a call to arms, calling for youths to stand up and speak their minds against the world they live in. “They’re tired of being pushed around and told just what to do” the song screams, “They fight the world until they’ve won and love comes flowing through, yeah!” And the reason, “the shadow of atomic fear.” War is raging, this is war to stop war, arming with a powerhouse, snarling riff and angry drumbeats. After the rumbling, screaming finish, Ozzy calls out hauntingly among some synthesizers and echoing bass “chi-chi-children of the Grave, chi-chi-children of the grave…” making one wonder if this inspired the soundtrack of a certain 1980 slasher film.
Another brief instrumental occurs before the next song, “Lord of this world.” Like Geezer Butler’s other warnings about the devil, this song warns that messing with darkness will lead to mistakes you cannot undo amidst rumbling guitar and bass. “Lord of this world/evil possessor/lord of this world/he’s your confessor now.” A quiet piece called “Solitude” follows, though on my CD, this was switched with the last track. This was also sung by drummer Bill Ward, or so I am told, and it doesn’t sound like Ozzy Osbourne, so I believe it.
The last track is the only one I’ve heard live twice from Black Sabbath (and once from a School of Rock Seattle performance) and is another of the most famous tracks on the album, “Into the Void.” A sludgy, grunge-and-Metallica-inspiring riff highlights the track as the lyrics detail an Earth decimated by war, atomic tests and energy and pollution. The solution, a rocket to a far-off planet, “leave the Earth to all its sin and hate,” or as it says later, “leave the Earth to Satan and his slaves, leave them to their future in their graves, make a home where love is there to stay, peace and happiness in every day.” 50 years later, the words still feel at home, global warming rises to deadly levels, toxic partisanship is high within national borders, warfare rages worldwide and curable diseases run rampant as people obey lies due to the politicians and pseudoscientists who tell them. However, to offer some hope, these issues are simply part of man, so it feels. We simply become numb to them in times of relative peace and tranquility and if we take note of scripture and history, these issues resurface in the Old Testament, the Roman Empire, the Age of Exploration, the Protestant Reformation, Westward Expansion and both World Wars. Racism, mistreatment of others, a “me-first” agenda, uncaring about the environment until it impacts the person’s personal life; they are historic problems. Soundgarden even took this song and replaced the lyrics with a speech by Chief Sealth and performed it live at Seattle’s Paramount Theater in 1992. I believe mankind has the potential for greater and I hope we will go beyond what we have done. Let’s work to achieve it before we end ourselves through our foolish and selfish decisions.
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