Before Aerosmith and Run DMC joined forces for the classic ‘Walk This Way’, it was thought unthinkable. Metal? and Rap?? Together???! But in this, the decade of fusion, the boundaries have been well and truly broken by Korn, Limp Bizkit and others. It was only a matter of time before some clever soul squeezed the concoction of pseudo rap/metal on to compilation disc.

This, my friends, is where Loud Rocks comes in. A veritable smoothie of all things heavy’n’hip-hop, it features some of the industry heavyweights – Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Rick Rubin, Wu Tang and System of a Down to name but a few.

‘Shame’ (SOAD and Wu Tang) has all the trademarks of classic System screams, Sugar Ray and the Alkaholiks rework ‘Make Room’ with great guitar licks and rawwk Vs rap verses.

Everlast and Mobb Deep chill it out with ‘Shook Ones’, lo-fi funk beats and classic Everlast riffs, Tony Morello (Rage Against the Machine) and Wu Tang chunk it up again with ‘Wu Tang Ain’t Nothin’’.

‘Still Not A Player’ (Incubus and Big Pun) is one of the highlights, with plenty of decks action and tons of guitar, but the most powerful combo is comprised of veterans Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) and Wu Tang with ‘For Heaven’s Sake’. A thick, hip hop beaten intro gives way to heavy distortion and vice versa for one classic remake.

A perfect hybrid of two genres, Loud Rocks is an absolute essential for any fan, no matter which side of the fence you’re on.