Best album of 2004

As some of you may know, the Zombieslayer has determined
that Metal is by far the best genre of music for slaying
(practicing, since of course the plague hasn't happened
yet) zombies. As much as I like Pink Floyd, you just
can't practice killing zombies with Pink Floyd blasting
in the background.

That said, the Zombieslayer advises that you add Metal
music to your collection. Yes, I have a fine collection
of symphony and piano and violin concerto, but Metal must
be the core of any Zombieslaying collection.

So, what was the best Metal album of 2004?
Quite simply, Nightwish's Once. Yeah, you're thinking
"who the **** is Nightwish?" First off, no profanity on
my site (unless uttered by me). For the love of God,
there are children on this site. So watch your mouths.
Nightwish is one of those Scandanavian heavy metal bands
with a hot chick singer. The thing is, they actually
have a hot chick who actually could sing. Yes, she is
trained in opera and has a slick voice.

I have never bought an album by Nightwish before this one,
but Ryan kept insisting I buy this one. No regrets.
Ryan, you are welcome in the anti-zombie compound any time.

Think of it this way. Think of a heavy metal album with a
female opera singer and an entire orchestra and chorus
backing it up. It's just awesome. That Tuomas guy, the
keyboardist who writes 90% of their music, has written his
masterpiece and for musical quality alone, I'd take it over
any album of 2004. It's both mature and melodic with
intelligent lyrics and heavy enough to practice your zombie
slaying skills to. What can be better than that?

My only criticism of the album is it does not have guitar
solos on every song. That needs to be a requirement
somewhere. Songs over three minutes long must contain
guitar solos. After the zombie plague ends and I become
dictator, I will have to enforce that law.

So...the Zombieslayer advises you to run, don't walk, to
your nearest record store and buy it.