Gratuitous Plug: Of Fate And Chance

Every now and then "Dancing On The Edge" will be providing a worthwhile band with a gratuitous plug for their music. This time around, we're providing New Jersey band Of Fate And Chance with our unsolicited endorsement.

After checking out the band's MySpace page (link through banner below), we found singer Sean Massaro's voice to be self-assured yet friendly, providing a welcome urgency to the material. What they lack in emotion, they make up for with commitment and control. There's room for improvement, which should come as Massaro grows into his voice, but the vox match the instrumentation well. The band's guitarwork, courtesy of Massaro and Micah Payne, is riff-driven with some interesting flights of fancy. Ryan Bergamotto adds some fluid, imaginative bass lines to the material, and drummer Jon Fleck compliments the rhythms with a solid, yet subtle use of his kit.

Lesser rockcrits would probably hang the "emo" tag around their necks like an albatross; we found the band's sound – slightly metallic roughneck punk with an inspirational lyrical undercurrent and progressive undertones – to be free of guile and pretension, i.e. these guys rock! Surprisingly, Of Fate And Chance are currently unsigned, which is an industry oversight...we could see these guys easily slotted between Coheed & Cambria and Three on your favorite retailer's shelves.

No money will ever change hands for our "gratuitous plugs," though bands can feel free to send us compact discs, photos of their girlfriends, copies of their favorite comic books, or even one of their mom's best recipes....