Ozzy Osbourne names Black Sabbath’s “most kick-ass” song
For most bands, it takes a few years of honing their craft before they land on a fully formed sound and hit their stride. However, Black Sabbath were an exception to the rule when they burst out of the gates at 100 miles per hour with their eponymous album in 1970.
Immediately, Black Sabbath captured the attention of the masses due to their heavy-hitting singular sound, which was many decibels louder than any of their competition. They were pivotal in bringing metal to the masses, but they also didn’t forget the importance of melody and song structure, cultivating a broad appeal.
Sabbath continued to expand upon their sound and grow in confidence ahead of their crowning moment, 1971’s Master of Reality, capturing them at the peak of their powers. The album was a turning point for Black Sabbath, with Ozzy Osbourne at the top of his game as a vocalist, and the band’s arrangements began to shift permanently away from their blues-tinged roots and towards what we now recognise as heavy metal.
The reason for the sonic evolution, according to the band themselves, is mainly due to the luxury of time. “On the first album, we had two days to do everything, and not much more time for Paranoid,” drummer Bill Ward observed in 2016. “But now we could take our time, and try out different things.”
Sabbath had worked hard to get granted an extensive period of studio time and made sure not to waste a single second. Ward continued: “We all embraced the opportunity: Tony threw in classical guitar parts, Geezer’s bass was virtually doubled in power, I went for bigger bass drums, also experimenting with overdubs. And Ozzy was so much better. But this was the first time when we didn’t have gigs booked in, and could just focus on making the album a landmark.”
Most of that came courtesy of Tony Iommi. The guitarist had already been experimenting with detuning his guitar strings, largely to lighten the load on his metallically chopped-off fingertips but took things to the extreme on Master of Reality. Songs such as ‘Into the Void’ and ‘Lord of This World’ featured guitars and basses tuned three full semitones down to create a muddy and heavy thud of notes.
Another song featuring extremely detuned guitars was ‘Children of the Grave’. A harrowing tale of war and death, the track features a death march of a riff as its intro and only gets heavier from that moment onwards. Over the top of the booming backing track, Osbourne lays down one of his most iconic vocal tracks, signifying his growth as a frontman.
In his autobiography I Am Ozzy, Osbourne tried to recall his memories from the recording of Master of Reality, but unsurprisingly, his rememberings were somewhat blurry. However, there was one nugget of gold amid the haziness, as he wrote, “Apart from the fact that Tony detuned his guitar to make it easier to play, Geezer wrote ‘Sweet Leaf’ about all the dope we’d been smoking, and ‘Children of the Grave’ was the most kick-ass song we’d ever recorded.”
Master of Reality was the start of a new era for Black Sabbath. However, on a less positive note, Iommi found that it represented the band getting too comfortable in the studio.
“During Master of Reality, we started getting more experimental and began taking too much time to record,” Iommi reflected in 1992.
“Ultimately, I think it really confused us. Sometimes I think I’d really like to go back to the way we recorded the first two albums. I’ve always preferred just going into the studio and playing, without spending a lot of time rehearsing or getting sounds,” he added.
Despite Iommi’s remarks, made with the benefit of hindsight, bands need to grow and challenge themselves in new environments. While Black Sabbath went from one extreme to another regarding the time spent in the studio per album, they found the perfect balance on Master of Reality, as demonstrated on ‘Children of the Grave’.
