Lou Reed & Metallica album 'Lulu' worst album of all time?

Many of you will have seen the posters around Munich advertizing the new Lou Reed and Metallica album, Lulu. The bewilderment generated by the bizarre pairing seems to be commonplace. What happens when you cross metal legends with one of the best lyricists of our time? The result is, quite simply, horrific.

Based on the work of 20th-century German expressionist playwright Frank Wedekind and including some challenging lyrics from Lou Reed, the idea is esoteric, but without any sense of union. Metallica's melodies do not fit and the unlikely union has missed the mark.

In 2009, Lou Reed and Metallica played on stage together for the first time, performing a frankly awful version of the Velvet Underground classic Sweet Jane. The collaboration was mocked by fans on both sides for months afterwards and how any idea of a collaborative album came into being is nothing short of puzzling.

Lou Reed is notoriously outre; but there's a marked difference between a licentious, fearless unconventionality and a foolish decision to unconventially pair yourself up with Metallica to create an album. The attempt at a higher art is to be commended, but the end result was unfortunately rather poor. Take a walk on the wild side, but don't stray too far.