In the year 2000 five Dutch musicians from the Dutch province Groningen got together to play as a spin off of 'The Frigus Project'. Not agreed upon a musical direction, it soon came clear that it would be a blend of symphonic rock, progressive metal and sing/songwriter style. Antares is not based on any band, but comparisons can be made with bands like Arena, Jethro Tull, Marillion, IQ, Camel, Spocks Beard, Yes, Dream Theater, Toto & Van der Graaf Generator.

After half a year six songs were ready to be recorded. The recording sessions took place at Square Wave studio Groningen in the summer of 2000. The mixing process took place in the spring of 2001. These sessions resulted in the album 'Choking The Stone' which has been released in July 2001.

After the many praising reviews of the album and a number of gigs, Antares performed at ProgPower Europe (2002) in Baarlo, The Netherlands. Here the band performed with numerious other great bands such as Threshold and After Forever.