Nova Scotia rocker Matt Mays went a different direction with his last album When the Angels Make Contact.

In fact, it was such a change there was talk the concept album could be made into a motion picture.

But Mays, who is back with a new album, Terminal Romance, seems to have put that on the back burner, that is if the whole project wasn't fired out the window considering his facial expression when the subject is broached.

"I just put all of that away," Mays says from a Toronto cafe. "I think it's going to be one of those things that I'm going to finish when I'm, like, 60. I put so much into that goddamn album and movie I almost killed myself, so thinking about going back to it ... right now I locked it away and said, 'Here's the album, you're going to have to wait for the movie for a little while.' "

Fortunately for Mays and his band El Torpedo, the new album, released in July, will make fans of his roots rock, Tom Petty-meets-Neil Young style forget about that big screen project.

The album is highlighted by the lengthy title track as well as some punchy rock songs, especially Building a Boat, Tall Trees and Digital Eyes.

Mays says making this record, which involved the band living and recording in cramped quarters for about six weeks, was a far simpler process than the previous effort.

"It was obviously a lot different in that it was such a band effort," he says. "We just lived the record, lived and breathed it. We didn't want it to be too complicated in the recording process. It's just the four of us playing live together off the floor."

The band recorded parts of Terminal Romance in Halifax and in a recording studio that was once a bomb shelter in Dover, England, overlooking the channel toward France. Mays says one of the largest obstacles was trying to make the collection of songs sound like a cohesive album.

"I knew that somewhere in there there was an album. I think there's two albums in there somewhere, but that's what happened," he says. "Some of the songs that ended up getting cut would probably have been singles. But having them on there, they didn't gel with the other songs. They're really super hard rock for some reason and the other ones are kind of guitary and melodic. So I took the ones that were a little more hard rock oriented off. At that point it sounded like an album to me."

Those edgier, harder-sounding tunes have already found a home as Mays is releasing a Get Lucky EP later this year that contains six ragged, "balls to the wall" tunes.

Probably the most significant change with the album is the band's personnel. Prior to making Terminal Romance, longtime guitarist Jarrett Murphy amicably split with the group.

"It was awesome because often with a lot of them (lineup changes), there's always something weird," Mays says of Murphy's leaving. "With Jarrett it was hard being in a band that's on the road all the time and there's not a whole lot of money coming in these days so it's really hard to make any kind of a living. Nobody is buying records anymore and gas prices are going up.

"Jarrett was with us for five years and touring hard. He was 32 and just needed something more secure and I completely understood. I was really bummed out, he was my roomie on the road and we were kind of joined at the hip. Now I see him every three or four months. It's weird, but it's life."

Cape Breton guitarist Jay Smith replaced Murphy and the band also has a new keyboardist in Adam Baldwin, both of whom Mays says breathe new life into the group.

"This lineup hasn't even gotten road-tight yet, which is really exciting to me," Mays says. "I'm excited to see this band when everybody gets to know what it's doing. I'm really looking forward to that. For this kind of music and the kind of songs I can't imagine a better band."