Maybe you’ve heard about this Lou Reed/Metallica collaboration. If you haven’t, well, the ambisexual Velvet Underground front man has recorded an album with the iconic heavy-metal band, based on 19th-century playwright Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays. (Wedekind wrote the source play Spring Awakening is based on).

As collaborations go, I guess it’s unexpected. But then, that’s what you expect from Lou Reed, isn’t it?

Even as I’m thinking “WTF?” I’m also thinking this could be a really interesting album. I’m no metalhead by any stretch, but there are a couple Danzig and Metallica tracks on my iPod. And if Marianne Faithfull’s guest vocals on Metallica’s “The Memory Remains” are any indication, this collaboration with Reed could be kind of brilliant. Reed himself certainly seems to think so.

“The version of the Lulu music I did with Metallica is awe-inspiring. It’s maybe the best thing done by anyone, ever,” he told New York magazine back in June.

Lulu doesn’t officially drop until October 31, but here’s a first taste.

Kind of a mess, isn’t it?

Images via Marcelo Costa, KatjusaC

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