Slipknot's Corey Taylor says Chester Bennington was a ''sweetheart of a guy''.

The 43-year-old singer was close friends with the Linkin Park star - who died by suicide earlier this year - and Corey has defended him against people who called him ''cowardly'' for the way he died.

Explaining that Chester battled with mental health issues, Corey explained on 'Larry King Now': ''Unless you've walked in those shoes, you don't understand the pain, the weight of carrying that along, and there's no right way to deal with it,'' Corey said. ''There's no universal fix-all. So you spend your whole life trying to find what works for you. I am just glad I got the time I had with him.''

Corey previously launched a passionate defence of Chester and his friend Chris Cornell after they were called ''cowards'' for taking their own lives this year.

The Linkin Park frontman hanged himself on what would have been his friend's birthday, just months after the Soundgarden singer also killed himself.

Corey has said: ''Calling them cowards is a very immature way of looking at it. It's the easy way to look at something like that, because it makes you not have to face what a serious issue it is.

''It's easy for someone to label it like that so they can turn their back on it and pretend that it was something that didn't happen to them, when inside they're hurting.

''People who fight depression are almost in a constant state of hurting. It comes and goes. The tide rises, the tide ebbs, and sometimes it's hard to get past that break.''