BY ANTHONY D'AMATO

With the release of his new album, Love at the End of the World, Sam Roberts has arrived at a place that takes most songwriters decades to reach: he can play an entire show of his greatest hits. The catch? Most Americans have never heard any of them. Over the course of just three albums, the Canadian rocker has amassed a slew of chart-topping and award-winning songs in his homeland. He regularly plays to thousands of adoring fans while headlining festivals across the country, and Love at the End of the World debuted at number one when it was released there this past fall. But here in the States, Roberts still remains inexplicably under-the-radar.

With that in mind, Roberts and his band hit the stage of the Bowery Ballroom in New York City Wednesday night like they had something to prove. It was the second night of a two-month U.S. tour, and if this show was any indication, they're finally ready to take America by storm. Opening with the brooding title track from the new album and moving right into the explosive "With a Bullet," Roberts set the tone early for what would be a night of high-octane rock and roll.

Rather short and scruffy, Roberts is by no means an imposing figure, but something happens every night when the 35-year-old father of one hits the stage. He possesses the sort of commanding presence normally reserved for artists with careers twice as long as his. A wave of his hand, a shake of his head is all it takes and the crowd is his. It's a kind of effortless, magnetic energy he exudes while bouncing around the stage, thrilling seemingly without trying.

Roberts' strength as a songwriter lies in his tremendous sense of melody, both instrumentally and vocally. He's got a knack for memorable hooks and well-timed "whoa-ohs." He generally forgoes the lush orchestration and harmonies of other successful Canadian artists like Arcade Fire in favor sparkling, dynamic guitar lines. Love at the End of the World's first single, "Them Kids," is a fantastic example of the kind of interlocking guitar parts that prove a 5-piece rock band can produce music as intricate and engrossing as anyone out there.

Roberts' frantic pace didn't leave room for dull points during the show, but the night undoubtedly peaked near its conclusion, which featured three of the band's biggest hits: the acoustic "Bridge to Nowhere," the rootsy "Hard Road," and the grooving "Brother Down." Part of Roberts' appeal has to be the positive messages underlying these songs. "Stay true to your friends/Cause they'll save you in the end," he sang during "Hard Road," ad-libbing a reminder to the crowd to "REMEMBER THAT LAST PART!" "Brother Down," too, is rumination on taking care of one another, a war cry against selfishness. "We've got one life to live but we're doing it wrong you see/Got my brother down cause it's nothing to me."

It's not all so serious, though. Roberts closed the main set with "Them Kids," belting out the chorus ("I just don't understand why the kids don't know how to dance to rock and roll") as more of a challenge than a lament. It was a challenge the tightly packed crowd in the Bowery Ballroom had no problem rising up to.