NEWS: a-tota-so push the button on “I Told You So”!

Wrestling with anxiety, depression, grief and the suffocating weight of the modern world, an album from Alternative Metal ArcTanGent survivors a-tota-so is set to land on Planet Metal on 4th September. Dubbed “I Told You So” it might be considered a self titled affair, reflecting on how the mind can flicker between calm and panic in seconds, how control feels illusory, and how certainty dissolves under pressure. Recorded during a week-long residency in an old Welsh mill in early 2025 with JT Soar and Snug Recording Co, the album captures the trio at their most direct and ferocious. Mixed by Mark Roberts (Black Peaks, Delta Sleep, Vower, Every Hell) and mastered by Stephen Kerrison it has been preceded by “Death Rattle” and “Form of Mass” with a cheeky remix titled “Death Rattled” celebrating the news.

The band comment: “We’re really excited to release this album and let you all hear the new music we’ve been working on as we enter the next chapter of this silly little band. I really enjoyed taking on the vocal duties this time round and it’s been really exciting figuring out my own voice for the first time since my teenage years in early bands. Lyrically its a pretty miserable album at times dealing with anxiety, depression and the state of the world we’re living in but there is definitely a message of hope conveyed in there that things can and will get better if we just stay strong. Hopefully people will enjoy the direction we’ve headed and find something in here to enjoy without us completely abandoning our roots altogether there’s still plenty going on in there for the die hards.”

You can catch a-tota-so live over the next few months:

17/07 – The Blind Pig, Sowerby Bridge
18/07 – Summer Bash, Reading w/Mercury’s Well
08/08 – VENUE TBC, Lincoln
09/08  – The Rainbow, Birmingham
04/09 – Harlequin, Sheffield
05/09 – Mangata Festival, Nottingham w/Ten56
24/09 – Aatma, Manchester*
25/09 – The Carousel, Nottingham*
26/09 – Wharf Chambers, Leeds*
27/09 – The Old Blue Last, London*

* with Poptones