METALLICA will headline the 10th installment of the Download festival at Donington Park on Saturday, June 9, 2012, with an exclusive U.K. performance of the band's top-selling 1991 LP, "Metallica", a.k.a. "the black album." It will be the eighth time the California metal titans will have played at Donington during their three-decade-long career, having previously performed at both Monsters Of Rock and Download festivals.

"Six years is way too long to be away from the hallowed grounds of Donington Park," says METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich. "We are beyond psyched and feel privileged to come back once again to soak up the energy and vibe of the most legendary of festival sites."

"I am absolutely bowled over that METALLICA will be playing The Black Album at the 10th anniversary of Download," says Andy Copping, VP of Promotions at Live Nation. "The album is up there as one of the greatest albums of all time, everyone knows the songs. The Download festival has come a long way since we first started in 2003 and to have METALLICA back to help us celebrate this milestone is just fantastic."

Download 2012 takes place at Donington Park on June 8-10, 2012. Weekend with camping tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. on Friday, November 18 from www.downloadfestival.co.uk.

METALLICA's 1991 self-titled fifth album, commonly known as "the black album," in 2009 surpassed SHANIA TWAIN's 1997 record, "Come On Over", as the best-selling CD of the SoundScan era. To date, the black album has sold 15,715,000 copies in the United States.

Although METALLICA had scored their first radio and video airplay with their previous effort, 1988's "...And Justice For All", the black album was the band's biggest commercial breakthrough, producing five singles and making them into one of the most popular rock bands in the world.