I’ve listened to this CD so many times I can hold it up and see my hand through it. Yes. I’m addicted.

The band has a wonderful flavor of Cranberries nicely mixed with the song writing skills of Garbage’s Shirley Manson and the sometimes semi-manic tang of Cocteau Twins. There’s too much too good to say about Little Green Men.

I suspected the group was a front for a pack of really talented, famous musicians who wanted to test their skills without the taint of name appeal. But Little Green Men is real and I’m shocked to learn this is their third CD. Why some disgusting money-hungry and exploitive major label hasn’t scooped them up is beyond me. Maybe it’s the fact there’s a nasty heavy metal band with the same name. Who can say.

And then there’s that thing about the band being on some mysterious 3-year hiatus …

Pam Webberley is the singer/songwriter for LGM and she is a standout. Sometimes, too rarely, these people come along - Shirley Manson, Souixie Sue, Dolores O’Riordan, Liz Fraser - and increase the collective music intelligence of the section of the human race that actually has ears. I can’t and won’t attempt to explain why this CD is so outstanding. It’s something you just have to hear.

And there’s no reason why you can’t. I’m linking you directly to the download page for two songs “Highland” and “Am I Pretty” right here. I guess I should warn you that some of the songs might be emotionally disturbing. They’re meant to be. They’re honest and intelligent.

Thanks to the high-decibel exposure I’ve been getting from local bands, harder and harder rock is appealing to me more and more. So The Sammus Theory came to the top of the stack at just the right time. Great sounds riding the edge of metal and lyrics riding the edge of insanity.

I almost didn’t get past the fourth track on the CD because the 2, 3 and 4 tracks were so compelling and brain-frying I kept putting them on a loop. “Lead Foot” is the best tortured romantic love song I’ve heard in eons - and believe me, I know eons. Here’s a taste:

“You try to drag me but I’m weighted
with my lead foot.
A ball and chain around my legs slows me down,
I cannot seem to move.
Drop me up from so high into water …
Watch me drown; you’re my lead foot.”

Beautiful, I know (sniff). Sammus, responsible for both lyrics and manic vocals, has a unique twist to his words that speaks to a deeper part of my brain. And I’m not so strange. I think your brains must have those dark little holes you crawl into sometimes and hey, here’s the background music for that space.

“Hole In the Wall” is a perfect example of speaking volumes with few words.

“Your last breath cried out loud.
It was a bullet hole in the wall.
No one really understood
What pulled the trigger …”

Although the first half of “Man Without Eyes” is much stronger and memorable than the second half, my greatest whining complaint is that I was sent the radio-edited, clean version of the lyrics. Should an independent CD even have a clean version? Did they send the sanitized version because I’m a chick? Did I come off as a prude in my past reviews? I must look into this while you look into The Sammus Theory.