Following their eponymous debut album and their million-selling Paranoid, both released in 1970, Black Sabbath returned to Island Studios in London just a few months later to record their third album. This time, with no time pressure and a larger budget, the recording sessions lasted several weeks, from early February to mid-April 1971. The album was produced by Rodger Bain, with Tom Allom as sound engineer; both had been working on the two previous albums. Master of Reality was released worldwide in July 1971, once again on the legendary Vertigo label. It was an immediately huge commercial success and contributed significantly to the band’s phenomenal reputation.

Their experimental approach of tuning the guitars down produced a much harder and more threatening sound than on their two previous heavy metal albums. With these incredible guitar riffs, the thundering bass, Ozzy at his best and the superb drumming, they created their most influential work sonically and played a major part in the development of sludge, stoner and doom metal. By the way, the coughing at the beginning of Sweet Leaf came from Tony Iommi, shortly after he’d taken a drag on a joint. For many, this album is a seminal work in the history of rock music and one of the most important albums of all time. Demand for this masterpiece is correspondingly huge, especially for the English first edition, which was released in an elaborate box sleeve with a flap at the top, containing a poster of the band (photographed by Keef) and featuring the album title in embossed lettering.