Speaking on US radio last week, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor claimed Canadian rock band Nickelback has been replaced by the Las Vegas group as "the world’s most hated band".

“They’re awful, so that’s cool,” he said.

Now singer Dan Reynolds has taken to social media to challenge critics "saying extremely harsh things about my band”.

He accused their detractors of using: "Words filled with vile and hate meant to feed humanities need to laugh at each other’s imperfections and fails."

He added: "I’ve stood silently and taken it for years. It has added to the depression I’ve dealt with since youth.

Quote Message: I don’t say this in search of sympathy, but just as a fact. It’s not the person that causes me the feelings of stress and depression, but what it does to the world we as a band have created.

I don’t say this in search of sympathy, but just as a fact. It’s not the person that causes me the feelings of stress and depression, but what it does to the world we as a band have created.

Since 2013, Imagine Dragons have won three American Music Awards, nine Billboard awards and a Grammy, among other honours.

Reynolds added: “I’ve gotten over the fact that guys in other bands (The 1975, Foster The People, Smashing Pumpkins, Slipknot etc.) feel a need to talk badly about my band for whatever reason.

"I don’t feel anger towards them actually, just more of a sadness that this industry embraces, even celebrates this mentality."

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