Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has broken his silence about the firing of drummer Joey Jordison, revealing the decision to let him go was one of the toughest he and his bandmates have ever had to make.

Jordison and the heavy rockers parted ways in December (13), 18 years after he joined the group, but neither he nor Taylor and company have discussed the break-up in detail until now.

The frontman tells Metal Hammer magazine, "I can't talk too much about it because we're going through the legalities of everything right now and settling everything, but it's when a relationship hits that T-section and one person's going one way and you're going the other. And try as you might to either get them to go your way or try and go their way, at some point you've got to go in the direction that works for you.

"This is me speaking in the broadest terms, with respect to Joey. I guess to sum it up, it was one of the hardest decisions we ever made.

"We're all happy right now and we hope that he is. I've known him since '91, and that was before we were in bands together, and he's incredibly talented; he's just in a place in his life, right now, that's not where we are... in the nicest terms."

Taylor admits he no longer has a relationship with his former drummer, adding, "I haven't talked to Joey in a while, to be honest... It's not because I don't love him and I don't miss him. And it is painful; we talk about him all the time, but at the same time, do we miss him or do we miss the old him? That's what it really comes down to. It's just a f**king shame."

Reports suggest Jordison has been replaced by Jay Weinberg, the son of longtime Bruce Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg, as Slipknot prepare to release their fifth studio album 5: The Gray Chapter next month (Oct14).