ALICE IN CHAINS' WILLIAM DUVALL On Recent Iconic Metal/Hard Rock Musician Deaths: They Leave 'A Really Big Void'

In a new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, ALICE IN CHAINS frontman William DuVall weighed in on the fact that 2025 saw the loss of some of the metal genre's greatest figures, including, but not limited to, BLACK SABBATH legend Ozzy Osbourne, KISS guitarist Ace Frehley and MASTODON's Brent Hinds. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It is, I feel, like a shifting of the era, maybe a shifting of the planet, I don't know. But, yeah, something is definitely happening. And, of course, even aside from that, none of us are here permanently. And so between those two things, just the sort of transient nature of life itself, and then I think all these shifts we're going through as a society, as a human race, all these technological shifts… Things happen in cycles, I suppose, and so you don't wanna get too rattled about it, but at the same time, we do have a lot going on at the same time that seems to be converging into something that's really profound. And then within that, we have all of these heroes from the era that we grew up on who are just naturally passing on. And then, of course, we have the all-too-frequent tragedy of people who pass on seemingly too early or before their time, like Brent Hinds."

He continued: "[2025], it was a hard year, and I think we're gonna just have more of this, if for no other reason than the fact that so many of our heroes, they're getting into their eighties and all of that, or they're already there. But yeah, it was definitely a tough year. And it does force one to confront this idea of treasuring every moment that you can, because the moment's here and it's gone. Whatever that means, the moment is here and it's gone — with our families, with our music, with our heroes, with our friends, everything. I mean, I wouldn't have believed the last time I saw Brent Hinds was gonna be the last time I saw him… Yeah, he lived close to the edge, closer than many, certainly. But even with that, it's still… The bottom line is when you lose somebody like that, you lose somebody that leaves a really big void. You're not gonna have anybody that just you can pivot to and say, 'Oh, well, this person's providing sort of a similar thing.' Losing a guy like Brent Hinds is like losing — it's like when [PANTERA guitarist] Dimebag [Darrell Abbott] got killed or like a Duane Allman [founder and original leader of THE ALLMAN BROTHERS] or somebody. It's just somebody that's, like, 'Oh, you're not getting that back.' And the qualities that these people bring. I mean, they are people who sort of carry this elevated kind of spiritual awareness, it seems, and they carry the joy of that and they carry the burden of that. And they move through life in this way where it just seems like they're vibrating on a slightly different frequency from most people. And if they happen to play an instrument on top of that, and if they happen to have a good fortune to get their music out there, get records out and people get to know them, well, now you've sort of imbued all of these people with that same thing of, like, 'Man, this dude, he's vibrating on another level. Wow.' And then when you lose that, it's, like, 'Oh, my god.' So, yeah, it's been a tough year, but I think if we can all just kind of use that as a reminder that, wow, every moment we have here [is precious]."

William went on to say that music fans should continue supporting their favorite artists while the musicians are still alive.

"If you can buy a [concert] ticket, buy a ticket," he said. "If you listen to the records, just keep treasuring the records. But you know what? It spills over into, like, man, love your friends. You know what I mean? Like, hey, man, call your mom, call your dad, call your brother, your sister. And if there's some sort of a rift for whatever reason, take a look at that. Can this rift be bridged at all? 'Cause, dude, once it's over, it's over — for you and for them."

Prior to joining ALICE IN CHAINS in 2006, DuVall was a member of punk rock bands AWARENESS VOID OF CHAOS, NEON CHRIST, BL'AST! and FINAL OFFERING. DuVall's long musical history also includes COMES WITH THE FALL and ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist Jerry Cantrell's solo work.

Cantrell befriended the members of COMES WITH THE FALL in the early 2000s, playing shows with the band on the West Coast, then enlisting the musicians to tour with him as both opening act and backing group in support of his album "Degradation Trip".

DuVall appears on the last three ALICE IN CHAINS albums: 2009's "Black Gives Way To Blue", 2013's "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here" and 2018's "Rainier Fog".