Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

The Brutalist Bricks

Matador Records

Rocks like:… Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

The Brutalist Bricks

Matador Records

Rocks like: punk, powerpop and politics

Grade: B+

Ted Leo (of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists) is going on 40 this year, and he might be experiencing a midlife crisis. He’s sporting a tiny mohawk, turning up his guitar and screaming more than singing. The album even has the word “brutal” in the title.

Mohawks aside, Leo hasn’t gone too far off the deep end yet. With The Brutalist Bricks, he keeps many of the familiar melodic conventions from his previous albums by crafting poetic lyrics, pounding out crisp guitar hooks and showing off his dynamic vocal range.

Never a man too shy away from confronting tough issues, he sings about everything from veganism to the U. N.

With in-your-face songs such as “The Stick,” he proves that while he might have a degree in English from Notre Dame, he learned his real lessons from the underground hardcore punk scene of Washington in the 1980s.

Leo has always had a knack for touching on the political and the personal with equal integrity. In “Even Heroes Have to Die,” he reflects on aging gracefully with the line, “Like any old flame you can wither / Though your passions still outshine.”

The Brutalist Bricks does not have the same stellar power and creative energy as Leo’s earlier releases, like The Tyranny of Distance or Shake the Sheets, but Leo proves his candle still burns strong for making deeply touching music. So here’s to hoping this hero doesn’t quit anytime soon.