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I think highly (cough cough) of all of the Ozzy records, but Master of Reality is the one I think is flawless.
Paranoid is full of flaws, which is much of it's charm and listens like a good comic book for the ears. I guess MoR does have that element in "Sweet Leaf", to the extreme even, but otherwise is such an amazingly serious (and successful!) work.
Despite their claim to fame as the sludge metal originators, the speedy bass-line to "After Forever" is just completely engaging, with Ozzy's biting lyrics taking on Christian hypocrites from a Christian perspective among his best ever. From there through "Children of the Grave" on the first side they never fail to spellbind. Then the surprisingly mellow "Solitude" opens the second side in a different sort of darkness - bleakness. From there through the brilliant power riffage of "Into the Void" they don't let up either - the record's end really does feel like taking off into space as an escape.
Not dissing the other fine records of that era at all, but this one is just extra-special to me.
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