Birmingham doom pioneers BLACK SABBATH released their third studio album "Master of Reality" on July 21st, 1971, through Vertigo Records. Following the darker turn of "Paranoid," the record pushed even heavier, with Tony Iommi tuning his guitar down three semitones to C# — a decision born from workplace-accident nerve damage in his fretting hand that inadvertently invented the low, crushing tone future doom and stoner metal bands would chase for decades. Opener "Sweet Leaf" built around a coughing sample announced the band's cannabis fixation, while "Children of the Grave" and "Into the Void" delivered apocalyptic riffing over Geezer Butler's bleak, war-haunted lyrics. Ozzy Osbourne's mournful acoustic interlude "Solitude" showed unexpected range. Reaching the UK and US top ten, "Master of Reality" is now widely regarded as the blueprint for doom metal, cementing BLACK SABBATH's role as heavy metal's founding architects.
