Bill Ward’s favourite Black Sabbath album
The Birmingham-born metal progenitors Black Sabbath beckoned a new era for rock music as we approached the 1970s. While the 1960s had offered a period of sociopolitical transition propelled by the sound of rock music, the ’70s would prove to be an age of dynamic genre propagation. Led by Ozzy Osbourne, the four-piece took the heavy rock music sound of The Who, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles’ proto-metal classic, ‘Helter Skelter’ to create a beast of their own.
Opening their discographic diary on a solid note, Black Sabbath released their eponymous debut album in 1970. Had Osbourne and his bandmates thrown in the towel after this seminal beauty, they would still be a household name with classics like ‘N.I.B.’ and ‘The Wizard’ on the score sheet. Alas, they galloped forth through misty woodland, hurdling tombstones and swatting cobwebs to bring us 18 further studio albums.
Although the band remained active for several decades, releasing several albums without Osbourne front and centre, Sabbath’s most influential period was undoubtedly confined to the early 1970s. Paranoid, Master of Reality, Vol. 4 and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath arrived between 1970 and ’73 to shake the foundations of rock ‘n’ roll and define a genre for generations to come.
From Vol. 4 onwards, the band entered increasingly experimental territory, which wasn’t to some fans’ taste. While one could admire the creative thirst, the band had begun to lose their identity, and with regard to influence, their work was all but done.
Reflecting on the genre he helped define in a 2017 feature with Rolling Stone, Black Sabbath’s founding drummer Bill Ward picked out his ten favourite metal albums of all time. Among his selections were classic albums by Metallica, Motörhead, Slipknot and Judas Priest, all of whom have previously professed their debt to Black Sabbath.
Saving a slot for his own oeuvre, Ward picked out the 1971 album Master of Reality as his favourite Sabbath album and one of the all-time greats. “I like every single Sabbath album that I worked on,” Ward commented on his selection. “But I just happen to like Master of Reality. I liked it because the band was, by that time, very much a completely on-the-road, touring band. We hadn’t come off the road for several years, and there’s a maturity about it.”
“I’m not saying that the other two – Black Sabbath and Paranoid – weren’t mature,” he added. “I think they were, actually. But there’s something about Master; there’s something different about it. It’s always been one of my favourites. I just happen to really, really like that album.”
Listen to ‘Children of the Grave’, the only single from Master of Reality, below.
