Angus McSix – Angus McSix And The Sword Of Power (Review)

Relatively soon after the split with Gloryhammer, Thomas Winkler, who played the role of Angus McFive, told the fans that he wanted to continue. I was curious and excited what he would want to put together. The power metal project Angux McSix was born. With golden armor and an oversized sword, the adventures of the reborn Angus McFive continue in an unofficial way. Surrounding him, Winkler formed a formidable group of people that I found promising: Thalìa Bellazecca (ex-Frozen Crown), Manu Lotter (ex-Rhapsody of Fire) and Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann (Orden Ogan).

On April 21st, 2023, the first album of the new band was finally released. The first three songs were also exactly in this chronological order the first single releases. The beginning is the very strong “Master Of The Universe“, which also had a strong start on YouTube and inspired many fans, including me. It was at that time by far my most listened to song and I still prefer to sing along loudly. The phenomenal voice of Winkler, great riffs of Bellazecca and Sebb, the drums of Lotter fit in great. You immediately notice that Winkler wants to continue his own Gloryhammer, something with which he had me immediately.

The next two tracks didn’t quite meet my taste. “Sixcalibur“ follows the style of the previous song seamlessly, but differs clearly from its stomping tone. I still enjoyed listening to it. “Laser-Shooting-Dinosaur“ tore me out of the great flow. Distinctly more detached from the previous style with audible keyboard sounds. Where did they come from all of a sudden?

And from that point on, a problem emerged for me: the expectations that were created did not hold up to what I had hoped for. Especially the exuberant use of electronic elements, without visually representing such a band member at the keyboard, confused me for the rest of the album. Instead of working towards a (next) highlight in the album, they moved away from it. “Amazons Of Caledonia“ is a great song that got stuck in my head, but seems overbearing. The same is true with “Starlord of the Sixtus Stellar Systems“. “Fireflies of Doom“ has the same weaknesses, but has its own charm with its clear cheesy 80’s quotes that I can’t get mad at. Same for“Just A Fool Will Play Tricks On Angus McSix“.

But you notice after first listening that Angus McSix wants to be a band that wants to make living fun and in this case they take the right path. Many of the songs contain a lot of “dob dob” and “woho woho” which serve as a big marker for fans where their singing parts are. If you look at live performances on YouTube, you directly realize how well this works, so everything is done right?

Probably yes, but for me it’s all a bit too little. Thereby the evaluation is very difficult for me. Thomas Winkler seems to be a very likeable person who you could always tell how much fun it is for him to mime Angus on stage, I already noticed that at a Gloryhammer live concert. You also notice how much talent exists in this band. Vocals, riffs, drums I would call everything above average; the right people were united.

Unfortunately, this is buried by the (for my taste) overboardering use of electronic sound elements. But I think that this band still has to adjust the knobs and pointers properly. I have the feeling that this will still be really good.