Artist: Various Artists

Album: Loud Rocks

Label: Loud Records

When Ozzy Osbourne and Wu-Tang Clan perform a song together, the result can only be a questionable compilation.

Loud Rocks combines unrelated artists in a somewhat interesting mix of hip-hop, rap and hard rock. The 13 tracks on the disc cover such dubious combinations as Sevendust/Xzibit, Incubus/Big Pun and Sugar Ray/The Alkaholiks.

The album starts off quite strong with the pairing of System of a Down and Wu-Tang Clan in the song Shame. The blaring sounds of the near metal guitar rifts combined with the incessant yelling into the microphone by the vocalists set the pace for the rest of the album.

As the disc progresses, all the tracks seem to meld together to form a predictable pattern throughout all of the songs. One can only take so many ultra-hard rock songs before needing a change of pace or an aspirin.

One highlight is For Heaven’s Sake 2000 with Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and the Wu-Tang Clan. Although it can’t break away from the cliché heavy metal sounds that dominate every other song, it does mix the vocals between Wu-Tang and Ozzy together amazingly well.

In the end, the CD proves to be mundane in nature. With one track never sounding too dissimilar from the next, the listener can easily tire from the infinite power-chords and yelling into the microphone.

Perhaps if metal ever dominates the market again Loud Rocks might be worth a spin.

Rating: D+