The Omega Man is a 1971 post-apocalyptic movie starring the late great Charlton Heston in a role that would be loosely reprised by the likes of Will Smith and Homer Simpson. The general consensus is that this film starts strong, gets a bit jumbled in the middle, then ends poorly. Thank the Metal Gods we're not here to talk about that turkey.

No indeed, "The Omega Man" by DIVINE WEEP is far from foul. The follow-up to 2016's "Tears Of The Ages," this is one of those long-awaited albums where all that patience finally pays off. Unlike the film, this album starts strong, stays strong, and ends strong. Released by Ossuary Records and recorded at Dobra 12 Studio in Bialystok, Poland, their production team along with the band has forged not a raw slab but a fully realized metal machine worthy of entry into 2020's various Best Of races.

The fireworks begin straight away on track one, "Cold As Metal," and never let up. "Journeyman" is like a 3-act play told in under six minutes, fading in with all the subtlety of a cavalry charge and leaving destruction in the wake. That's followed up by a mercurial bruiser in "Firestone," with tempo breaks occurring so fluidly you might think they went to the next track without you. "The Riders Of Navia" revamps a song previously released by the band, updating the production values and serves up a variety of influences. Things get a bit thrashy on "The Screaming Skull Of Silence" but with enough darkness around it to tell the listener that this band used to be all Black Metal.

The album's heavyweight comes as "Walking (Through Debris Of Nations)." Running the clock at over seven minutes, it's even more of a story being told than "Journeyman," and makes a definitive artistic statement about the sound this band has found. An interlude of German and English wartime dialogue bridges into the conflicts of the final tracks.

"Mirdea Lake" starts hypnotically melodic before segueing into the Black/Death strain that made the band, another great example of their flexibility and adaptability. Finally, the album's title track encapsulates everything from the previous forty minutes, incorporating a little bit of each song to place a well-deserved and ultimately satisfying exclamation point on it all. And that sort of punctuation might be all that you are left to say at the end.

It is of some worthy note that vocalist Mateusz Drzewicz makes his recording debut with DIVINE WEEP on this album. Having joined in 2017, the intervening years have clearly served to make their sound as seamless as it ever was, and the range he provides gives them a depth that was already rather deep, given the meshing of vintage metal riffs with a more black metal drumwork that they employ. DIVINE WEEP has definitely found their cog in the ever-grinding gears of metaldom.

"The Omega Man" is a great addition to any metalhead's collection, and it's a serious contender for Best Metal Album of 2020. Each track could easily find its way onto a playlist, whether it's by year, by genre, by cross-genre, or whatever you please. There's a lot to like about this album, and you've simply got to have it.