Listen To The Glorious Car Crash That Is Avenged Sevenfold Mashed Up With Katy Perry

It's no secret that we have something of a soft spot for mash-up culture here, especially intelligent, unexpected mixes such as when Eminem met Elliot Smith, or Taylor Swift got chopped up with Aphex Twin, or everything Neil Cicierega has ever done.

And this fresh disparate mix-up, made by YouTuber Isosine, fits the bill with aplomb; it's definitely unexpected — a fusion of Katy Perry's bubblegum hit California Gurls with the overproduced metal of Avenged Sevenfold's Bat Country — and certainly intelligent, as on a technical level the mix really works very well. Musically, though, it's a nightmare, echoing the sort of enthusiastic, emotionally void sunshine-in-a-can that bands like Len or maybe Smash Mouth would have written in earnest in 1996.

So, why the hell can't we stop listening to this thing? Morbid curiosity, maybe? Latent Katy Perry fanaticism? An aggressive tumour pushing onto our prefrontal cortex? We're not sure we want to know. We're not sure that it matters. Either way, check out the goods below, if you dare.

Isosine is making a habit of this sort of thing - there are further upsettingly good mash-ups on the creator's YouTube channel, including Taylor Swift/Nine Inch Nails, Ed Sheeran/Sia, Miley Cyrus/Mumford & Sons and Disturbed/Of Monsters & Men. Check out the full spread here.