Metallica tour to close Downunder

30 Seconds to Mars. Photo / Supplied

Metallica will return to New Zealand in November for the first time since their headlining slot at the 2004 Big Day Out.

Details about the show - or shows - by the Los Angeles metal band are still scarce but drummer Lars Ulrich revealed their tour plans during a recent press conference in Bogota, Colombia.

"We're staying out and doing dates through November in Australia and New Zealand and then after that we're going to take a little chill time," said Urlich, which indicates the Downunder dates will be the last of the World Magnetic Tour, which began in October, 2008.

Meanwhile, 30 Seconds To Mars - the band fronted by actor-turned-rock star Jared Leto - will play in New Zealand on August 3 at Auckland's Logan Campbell Stadium.

Besides making it big in Hollywood in films like Fight Club and most famously as heroine addict Harry Goldfarb in Requiem For A Dream, Leto formed the band with his drummer brother Shannon in 1998.

Since then the band have released three albums with the latest, This Is War, coming out late last year.