ALICE IN CHAINS' WILLIAM DUVALL Praises TOOL's 'Fear Inoculum': 'They Really Make Their Own Rules'

ALICE IN CHAINS frontman William DuVall has praised TOOL's latest album, calling it "a big statement" for the rock genre.

"Fear Inoculum" became one of last year's biggest musical success stories when it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart despite TOOL's 13-year gap between albums. The LP was also the third-bestselling digital album of the year, trailing only Taylor Swift's "Lover" and Billie Eilish's "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?"

Asked in a new interview with Ireland's Overdrive to name his favorite album of 2019, DuVall responded: "I would say TOOL's return to the world was a big statement, especially for the rock genre. Their method of releasing the album was so clever and it had such a huge impact on a global scale. I mean, just the announcement of the album's release was a big news story. They really make their own rules and that's an incredible thing. The fact that a band of that genre, releasing an album at this time, and generating No. 1 status all over the world, was just incredible and is a huge achievement. Also, the show is fantastic. I went and saw them in Atlanta. Adam [Jones, TOOL guitarist] invited me to the show; he's a great friend. All those guys are all just so awesome."

DuVall's critically acclaimed solo effort, "One Alone", came out last October. The 11-track album shows DuVall's powerful voice with nothing but an acoustic guitar to back it.

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.

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".