Matt Mays & El Torpedo — Terminal Romance

After the experimentation of 2006's When The Angels Make Contact, Matt Mays & El Torpedo have returned to what they do best — and which they enjoyed impressive commercial success with via their self-titled 2005 album: playing rock 'n' roll. While there are some keyboard accents in opener "Building A Boat" and a bit of vocoder is thrown into "Digital Eyes," this is a guitar-based rock album. If you're digging lead single "Tall Trees," you should like Terminal Romance and potential singles "Northern Belle" and "Laser-Guided Love." "Rock Ranger Record" is a nod to guitarist Jay Smith (who used to be in Cape Breton's Rock Ranger), and its power pop elements and two-minute duration make it the most fun of the disc's 11 songs. Mays stretches things out, adds piano and evokes Bruce Springsteen comparisons on the almost-eight-minute title track. Things slow down a bit and Mays' former Guthries bandmate Dale Murray contributes some pedal steel to closer "Long Since Gone."

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