10 Most Divisive Hard Rock Albums
9. Turbo - Judas Priest
Most metalheads have been known to cut Judas Priest a little bit of slack every now and again. Even when lead screamer Rob Halford left the fold, these founders of metal didn't have anything left to prove, content with pillaging ahead with some of their most feral riffs anchoring them down. They weren't perfect though... not even with the Metal God out front and center.
Although the Priest had been flirting with some newer sounds on the tracks on Defenders of the Faith, Turbo is probably the most drastic left turn that they've ever made in their career. After coming off of some of the greatest metal ever made on Screaming for Vengeance, this is practically an AOR record that has the Priest moniker stamped on it. Granted, that doesn't make a turn like this automatically awful though.
Across several songs on this album, you can tell that the guys clearly have a knack for writing some more accessible material; it just looks all the more strange seeing them doing it. You wouldn't see Ozzy guesting on a Cheap Trick song, so you better believe that the fans of the heavier material were rightfully pissed off. Then again, as far as massive flameout records go, you can do far worse than just a few radio-friendly tunes here and there.