Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez recently caught up with Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo to discuss their new album, Hardwired... To Self-Destruct. The Bay Area thrash vets are not just the biggest metal band in the world, but one of the most popular and successful musical acts of all time. Of course, a time will come at some point where we will no longer have Metallica, meaning there will have to be someone else to wear the crown.

When asked what band he would feel comfortable handing the crown over to if it happened tomorrow, Trujillo initially responded, "Oh, you're going to get me in trouble. There's a lot of great young bands out there. Man, that's tough."

The bassist then made his endorsements, adding, "I love Gojira because they're a great band and I love their new album. Avenged Sevenfold has some nice stuff coming out. I am not going to pick one band, but I think that it would be great for young bands all across the planet to embrace hard rock and heavy metal and start making great music and really take it to another level."

This isn't the first time Trujillo has pondered this very question, recalling, "I remember hanging out with Geezer Butler and him saying, 'Who's gonna carry the torch?' I had a hard time trying to pick somebody because it's quite a task and growing up the way we've grown up around Black Sabbath in the '70s and just having all of that energy around us and the influence is right there and seeing these bands. It's just really special and a magical time. Hopefully, we can inspire bands to do the same and make great music for the future."

Trujillo isn't the only Metallica member to be dazzled by Gojira's Magma album as guitarist Kirk Hammett had previously called the album "an incredible piece of art," going on to praise the complexity of their rhythms and the members' abilities as musicians.

Thanks to Robert Trujillo for the interview. Grab your copy of Metallica’s ‘Hardwired… To Self-Destruct’ at the band’s webstore and find out where you can hear Loudwire Nights right here.

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