The mythological 'At The Gates' is long since dead and buried, but its ricochets that had scattered to all directions are still making music. One composition constructed of the refugees of the above mentioned is 'The Haunted', that play fast and heavy quality Hardcore/Death Metal, that by no means is reminiscent of the original band from whence they came. One of the two guitar players and writer of most of At The Gate's material, Alf Svenson, had also been travelling less traveled roads in search of a unique way of starting a new career and a new sound altogether. Something which will have his own personal distinguished brand, a musical adventure which nothing sounds similar to - in the world of metal. He had entered his home studio, from which he took off to other strange worlds and dimensions. He got himself free of gravity, flew through the hole in the ozone layer and met strange civilizations - millions of light years away. The spaceship with which he took off to his cosmic journey is called Oxiplegatz, which is actually a solo-project literally - a one-man show. 'Sidereal Journey' is a concept album, a whole story divided into 33 internal tracks, each track has its own name as if was an individual song. The story is of a distant folk, whose planet had been devoured by an evil incarnation in the form of a black hole of some sort, and these creatures need to search throughout the galaxies for a new home. We are invited of course to join them on their perilous trip, a trip of hope, a trip of despair, and fear of the inevitable end approaching to swallow all which is precious to them. To Mr., Svenson's aid comes one Sara Svenson (His wife? His sister?), whom adds with her celestial voice to the cosmic atmosphere. The drum-machine is very evident, not very much effort had been put in disguising it, a fact which only adds to the overall hi-tech, sci-fi, inter-galactic ambience. The music best described as a combination of Opera, Black Metal and Gothic Metal; All put in one big cauldron, stirred and shook-up very well - And the cocktail is just so very much tasty. Mr., Svenson had tried and really succeeded in overwhelming the listener with feeling of floating in cold, dark space and the search of a new hope. The music is very original (a concept so rare today...), intelligent and avant-garde-ish, and one could really begin enjoying it only after the third or forth listening, due to the fact that the music is heavily laden with new motives, and is very complex. Not everybody's cup of tea. The production may not be one of the best, maybe because the album was recorded in a domestic studio rather than a professional one. The album saw light on Season Of Mist records, a French label which had released fine musical efforts such as ...And Oceans, Bethzaida, Anata and more. This very unique album is recommended to those who seek especially originality, invention, creativity and a lot of atmosphere in a very interesting metal album. Don't expect to get crazy after first listening in the record store - The madness will come only afterwards! Let me finish with a quote from Alf Svenson himself, a sentence which needs to be the very essence of every metal artist: " ...This time I had tried, more than anything, not to let myself fall into the tastes and musical styles of others - And just let my ideas develop freely...". So it is and so let it always be!!

© 2000 c. drishner