Artisan News Service caught up with vocalist Chuck Billy of thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT at the first-ever Epiphone Revolver Golden Gods Awards, which was held April 7 at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, to get his thoughts on METALLICA's recent induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and why it will open a lot of doors for future metal bands.

"I thought it was great," Billy said. "It's wonderful, and I think, like James (Hetfield) said, it's wonderful that it could open a lot of doors for a lot more metal acts to get inducted there. So, I think it's wonderful. Metal in America, it's got some legs right now."

TESTAMENT will embark on a North American headlining tour in May/June. Support on the trek will come from UNEARTH and LAZARUS A.D.

Prosthetic Records has set an April 14 release date for "Live at Eindhoven '87", a complete recording of TESTAMENT's performance at the 1987 edition of the Dynamo Open Air festival. A metal history lesson of the highest order, "Live at Eindhoven '87" sees the group's original lineup — vocalist Chuck Billy, guitarists Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson, bassist Greg Christian, and drummer Louie Clemente — at their absolute hungriest.

In addition to recently re-releasing TESTAMENT's 1997 album "Demonic" — hailed as "the most evil-sounding album of their career" (AMG) — and 1999's "The Gathering" (praised by Metal Hammer as the most important metal album of the late '90s), as well as the 2001 re-recordings collection "First Strike Still Deadly", Prosthetic has also just reissued "Demonic" and "The Gathering" on gatefold, etched double-vinyl. Strictly limited to 1,000 copies each, each pressing also includes 100 colored LPs (gold for "The Gathering", red for "Demonic").