As exclusively revealed in the last issue of Hot Press, Metallica and Linkin Park double up at the RDS, Dublin on August 20. Gates open at 3pm with further support acts – possibly Limp Bizkit, Mudvayne and The Deftones – being added to the bill shortly.

Tickets priced €60 go on sale on March 1.

According to a Mean Fiddler, Aiken Promotions and POD spokesman, the one-day event will "grow in the next few years to become a two to three-day, five-stage camping festival at the stunning Stradbally Hall estate in Stradbally, County Laois. The festival will twin itself with the world renowned Reading Festivals in England and grow to become Reading Ireland."

Located six miles from Portlaois and five from Athy, Stradbally Hall is set in 500 acres of grounds and is the ancestral home of the Cosby family.

On the album front, it's been confirmed that Linkin Park's Meteora will emerge on March 25, with Metallica's St. Anger collection following on June 9.

"We've been to a lot of different places musically over the last year and a half, and a couple of months ago we sort of came back around to some heavy, aggressive, fast dynamic, a lot of tempo changes, kinda of shit," reveals Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. "And that felt really comfortable again. All of a sudden it was like that old pair of shoes you have in the closet that you haven't worn for a while, but that felt really fucking good to have on again."