Philip Sayce

Guitar and vocal powerhouse Philip Sayce calls his new album Steamroller, and that’s absolutely perfect.

From the moment the title cut’s colossal riff kick-starts the disc until the wall of feedback that finishes the soaring instrumental “Aberystwyth” concludes the set list, Sayce’s fourth release is a rock ‘n’ blues joyride — a heavyweight sonic and emotional juggernaut fueled by Sayce’s unstoppable talent.

“This is the most unfiltered album I’ve done,” says the Toronto native. “The only goals were to be completely honest in every moment of writing and recording, so we could get all of the emotional intensity of these songs into the tracks.”

Mission accomplished. Steamroller draws on an era when rockers were larger than life and guitars sounded bigger than Godzilla — when bands wrote anthemic songs with hooks that rang out like the Hammer of the Gods. But there’s a modern energy and perspective at play in Sayce’s arrangements and lyrics, too, which keeps Steamroller from gathering even a spec of dust.

“The themes of this album are power, strength, belief, self-confidence, re-birth, inspiration and the dedication to break barriers,” Sayce declares. To backlight those themes with the crackling fires of conviction, Sayce and his band cut the disc live in Nashville’s Chatham County Sound studio with Grammy nominated producer Dave Cobb (Jamey Johnson, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell) behind the board.

The proof of Sayce’s musical faith is in the tracks. “Steamroller” and “The Bull” capture a raging lust for life. Both songs are guitar propelled sonic carnival rides that double as relentless hymns to the pursuit of dreams and goals.