TeamRock recently spoke to Megadeth mainman Dave Mustaine and asked him to review his former band Metallica’s new album Hardwired…To Self-Destruct.

Mustaine responded with: "I've always been able to appreciate the talent in Metallica. Every band has its strengths and its weaknesses. Personally, from everything I've heard so far, I think the new album is a good one.

"I hear that a lot of people have been making comments about Kirk Hammett and Rob Trujillo not writing anything on it. But sometimes that's just unavoidable. I guess I would've loved more writing from both those guys, because I loved Infectious Grooves and Suicidal Tendencies and I always loved the lines Kirk wrote with Exodus, but that's the way the cookie crumbles when you're in the studio. The best songs make the cut. Everyone wants to pick the best things.

"When it comes down to critiquing production stuff, it's kind of a personal thing. One man's trash is another man's treasure. For example, I know a lot of people really dig Rick Rubin and the way that he produces stuff. While I respect Rick tremendously, I do think that what he does with bands like The Cult really works and then when he does stuff with metal bands, it doesn't necessarily translate in the same way. Hardwired is definitely a different sounding record than, for example, St. Anger, and it sounds pretty good to me. I know it took 'em eight years to make this record, so I'm glad for them that people are digging it. It's a small community, you know?"

Guesting on 92.1 CITI Radio's The World Of Wheeler Podcast recently, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett discussed a variety of topics, including Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine's dismissal from the band. Following is an excerpt from the chat, the complete audio interview is below.

Hammett: "I've always seen Dave as someone who was just really, really sad, really angry, really frustrated about his situation with Metallica, and he never could let that go. And, you know, I've always shown a lot of empathy for him, understanding that he was just pissed off. It's the equivalent of the woman of your life leaving you when your band kicks you out.

When we did these 30th-anniversary shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco and we invited Dave to play on all those 'Kill 'Em All' songs, it felt so good to have him playing on stage. And I could see from the look on Dave's face and just from his whole attitude that it was super-cathartic for him. And I could see how it was helping him. It's interesting, because since then, I think, Dave's relationship with us is a little bit better now. I'd like to think that that whole thing just kind of healed some scars that needed to be healed."

Since the interview aired, Mustaine took to Twitter and commented on Hammett's view of the situation:

I have tremendous respect for @KirkHammett and I appreciate his take on this. he is almost 100% accurate...almost. I wish him the best. https://t.co/qXld8u1bSQ

— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) 4 December 2016