12 Most Hated Hard Rock Albums (From Great Bands)

At the start of the 90's, no one could have imagined metal working its way into the mainstream. However, Metallica's fast rise to stardom with their self-titled Black Album left the metal landscape wide open for more crossover material. With the new decade dawning, change was definitely in the air for Megadeth.

The band's work with more pop-leaning material began with promising results on Cryptic Writings, with the song "Trust" gaining a fair amount of airplay. Instead of slowly easing into this shift, Dave Mustaine decided to double down on the melodic side on Risk, which became the most drastic turn any metal band had undertaken.

Though there were definitely some good moments on the record like the arena-ready "Crush Em," the rest of the album feels half-baked, with some songs abandoning the metal moniker completely. Whereas most Megadeth songs were able to grab you by the throat from the word go, some of the songs on here have just the right slow tempo to lure into a comfortable sleep instead.

Over the years, the band have stuck to their strengths and put out more classic-sounding albums, much to the fans' delight. Though Mustaine defends that the record would have sold if Megadeth wasn't attached, it's hard to agree when the tunes are this plodding.