Nickelback is paying tribute to the late Charlie Daniels with an explosive cover of his country classic "The Devil Went Down To Georgia."

The Alberta rockers unleashed their fiery rendition on Friday with a guest appearance by Vancouver's Dave Martone shredding on guitar.

The new version puts a dramatic spin on Daniels' 1979 original, which tells the story of a fiddler who faces off with Satan in a fiddling contest.

Nickelback tosses out the fiddle for an electric guitar competition where Martone steals the show.

Lead singer Chad Kroeger said in a statement his band paired up with Martone to record the "rough take" a few years back.

After Daniels died last month, they decided it was an appropriate time to pull their heavy-metal tribute off the shelf.

Kroeger, who called "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" one of his all-time favourite songs, said he hopes Nickelback's version would "bring half as much as joy" as the original.

Nickelback marks the 15th anniversary of their album "All the Right Reasons," which featured the singles "Photograph" and "Far Away," with an expanded edition due in October.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2020.

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