10 Hard Rock Albums That Divided The Fanbase

There's no real right way to make rock music. When it comes to writing songs, most bands tend to find their groove and settle into it over each passing record. This normally results in the band fine tuning their sound to near perfection on their releases, but there are also exceptions amid the classics.

Every single hard rock band has always had THAT album. For one reason or another, this is the album that either shows the band taking a different direction or approaching their tunes in a different way. Regardless of whether they were successful, these records have left their fanbases significantly divided. While there are many diehard fans who see these albums as exciting sonic departures, there are others who just see them as misguided attempts for the band to experiment with questionable material.

Love them or hate them, these albums are still fresh in the minds of fans and will continue to spark debate as to their quality for years to come. As opposed to drawing a line in the sand, let's take a look at some of these contentious records and see what made them so controversial. Who knows? Maybe you'll find your new favorite record while digging through these lowlights.

At the dawn of the 2000s, Muse burst onto the scene sounding like nothing anyone had heard before. The band's exquisite mix of arena rock, alternative, and metal made for some of the greatest albums of the decade like Origin of Symmetry and Black Holes and Revelations. Once the band decided to get a bit more experimental with synthesizers, most fans started to tug at their collars.

As the band went into the studio to cut their 6th record The 2nd Law, fans were preparing to hate the new offering after the initial single "Madness" dropped. While the band had dabbled with more electronic production before, this dubstep-influenced pop track reeked of a band chasing trends.

Upon release though, the album was actually what you'd expect from a Muse album, complete with dystopian themes, fast melodic runs, and Matthew Bellamy's unmistakable high tenor. Sure, it may have been through a more synthetic lens, but the actual execution had a lot more highs than lows.

For people expecting a more grandiose album, this may not have been what you were looking for, but the power trio you know and love is still in there. The 2nd Law helped expose Muse to a different audience, but it did come at a cost of some of their hard rock fans.