Not heard of them before but they're very good. Not sure if those who dislike them do so because they don't particularly like the kind of music they do (seemingly mostly soft rock) or because they are a covers band.

Weird thing about rock/pop music is that although every band or singer you've ever heard of starts off by learning songs by other people somehow cover bands are looked down on. Sure, it's OK to include a cover or two in a set but unlike jazz or swing where it's perfectly acceptable to do "standards", people expect far more originality from this genre and will always compare covers with the original. The only exception is when classic pop/rock songs might be used in music shows like "Forbidden Planet".

This concept of "originality" itself is also questionable of course as prior to the Beatles, the vast majority of artists relied on professional songwriters to provide them with hits rather than write them themselves and this has continued ever since whether they were based in Denmark Street or the Brill Building. The past couple of decades have seen increasingly larger teams of writers, like those led by Max Martin, provide hits for others in addition to increased levels of sampling. Gone are the days of arguably more organic music/lyricist duos like Leiber & Stoller, Goffin & King or Bacharach & David. Does this make the artist any less "worthy" if they don't write their own material? For the huge majority of listeners, I guess they couldn't care less as it's all about the end product but others may take a more snobbish approach.

You could also factor in session musicians. Stax, Muscle Shoals, Motown all had great house bands that backed singers which seems entirely acceptable, but what about the case of session musicians replacing band members on recordings? Is this "cheating"? The one band instrumentalist most likely to be replaced in this instance because they aren't quite up to speed is the drummer but the Wrecking Crew played on virtually all of the Beach Boys "Pet
Sounds". Producers too, whether George Martin, Mark Ronson, Dr Dre, Rick Rubin or Quincy Jones all have a huge influence on a band's recorded output.

Sorry to ramble on, just think it's an interesting topic...🤔😁