There are always surprising collaborations in the music industry. In the past couple of years we’ve seen these artists collaborate: Björk and Dirty Projectors , Diplo and Lil’ Jon, Blackroc(The Black Keys and various rappers), and finally Thom Yorke and Flea. It’s quite amazing, right? Well, get ready for this: Lou Reed of The Velvet Underground and metal gods Metallica have recorded an album together!

Although this is a strange collaboration, it makes sense. In 1975, Reed released an album titled Metal Machine Music, which was pretty much a precursor to metal. Sure, it only involved a non-sensical collage of noises and guitar hammerings, but most music critics consider it to be one of the first forays into metal.

According to EW, in a statement made on Metallica’s website, the metal boys and Lou Reed have been:“'kicking around the idea of making a record together' since they shared the stage for the 25th Anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a couple years ago.” I don’t know about you guys, but I dig this. Not only does Reed have the credentials of making some kick-ass music, but Metallica haven’t really made anything that good in the past 10 years. So, maybe this collaboration is a message from the metal gods, screaming: “Were not finished with Metallica rocking quite yet.” Hopefully the gods are right.

Here is an example of the possibilities: