Metallica are set to headline the inaugural Download Festival Germany.

James Hetfield and co will rock Hockenheimring racing track in the Rhine valley on June 24, 2022.

The heavy rock and metal festival will also see performances from metallers Five Finger Death Punch and Sabaton.

Download - which started in Castle Donington, England, and was formerly known as the Monsters of Rock festival - is also held in France, Spain, Japan and Australia.

Next June, Download will return to Leicestershire with headline performances from KISS, Iron Maiden and Biffy Clyro.

The likes of A Day to Remember, Mastodon, Creeper, Code Orange, Black Veil Brides and Shinedown were also recently added to the lineup.

Due to the pandemic, Download put on a three-day government test event dubbed the 'Download Pilot' this summer.

A reduced capacity of 10,000 fans saw the likes of headliners Bullet For My Valentine, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and Enter Shikari after showing proof of a negative PCR test.

And Melvin Benn, managing director of the Festival Republic group, insisted it proved music events can be attended at full capacity without social distancing and masks.

He said after the event: "It's extraordinary really. It's really fantastic. I am very heart-warmed by it all.

"What is extraordinary about it is the level of compliance around the testing and requirements we have is absolutely extraordinary.

"In a way that you would expect when you are in the middle or towards the tail end of a pandemic, that level of compliance is extraordinary.

"It is coupled with a level of normality that is equally extraordinary when you have been out of it for so long."