Metallica on stage at Knebworth during the first Sonisphere Festival

ORGANISERS of the Sonisphere Festival are set to reveal more bands playing at Knebworth House in 2010.

ROCK and metal fans will get an early Christmas present this week when the latest groups added to the 2010 Sonisphere Festival bill at Knebworth are announced.

The Welwyn Hatfield Times understands an announcement about the UK leg of the European touring extravaganza will reveal the second wave of bands confirmed as playing the event next summer.

A posting on the Sonisphere Festival’s Facebook site says: “Looks like there will be a UK announcement on Monday (not Metallica).”

Iron Maiden and Rammstein have already been named as headliners for the three-day festival at the Hertfordshire stately home from July 30 to August 1.

Alice Cooper will close the Saturn stage on the new Friday night of music and others already on the bill include thrash titans Anthrax and Slayer, The Cult, Iggy and the Stooges and glam-metallers Mötley Crüe.

When announcing the main stage headliners earlier this month, a Sonisphere statement added: “There is much more to come with dozens more bands to be announced in the New Year – metal, rock, hardcore, thrash, classic, indie, punk, you name it, we will have it.

“From well-established rock icons to the hottest new names, if they rock and are worth seeing, they will be playing at Knebworth.”

One group strongly tipped for Sonisphere next summer is Fear Factory after they were forced to pull out of the inaugural festival earlier this year.

The American industrial metallers have a new album, Mechanize, due out in February and have announced only a short UK tour to promote it, fuelling rumours they will be back in this country later in the year.

Dave Mustaine’s Megadeth are another group linked with Knebworth after thrash metal’s ‘Big Four’ – Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth – were confirmed as playing the Polish, Swiss and Czech legs of the festival’s European tour next June.

Although nothing has been confirmed yet, other possibles for 2010 include Motörhead, who are already on the Sonisphere Switzerland bill, and British alt-rockers Placebo, who were heavily rumoured for Knebworth on music forums earlier this year, before eventually ending up at the Reading Festival.

Metal legends Metallica closed the 2009 Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth with Linkin Park the other headliners.