Of Fate and Chance

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.... - thatdevilmusic.com

Artist: Of Fate And Chance
Album: An Atlas To Solutions
Label: N/A
Website: http://www.myspace.com/offateandchance
Genre: Alternative Rock
Sounds Like: ?
Technical Grade: 10/10
Production/Musicianship Grade: 10/10
Commercial Value: 9/10
Overall Talent Level: 10/10
Songwriting Skills: 9/10
Performance Skill: 10/10
Best Songs: An Atlas To Solutions, When Shee Needed Arms
Weakness: ?


CD Review:

From Lebanon, New Jersey, comes the band, Of Fate And Chance. A cute, but curious name for a band whose fate in the music industry will not be left to chance – not with the immensity of the talents I heard on their debut project.

Defined by tight musicianship and distinctive vocals, this band puts on a clinic in how to “jam” within the parameters of well constructed song. In other words, they know how to play with the best of them!


The tracks “When She Needed Arms,” and "Look What You've Done," may vaguely conjure up some Police influence, but Of Fate And Chance has a style that’s uniquely their own. No where is that more evident than on their most commercial track, “An Atlas To Solutions.” It's a riveting musical masterpiece supreme guitar and drum playing that complement each other. It abundantly highlights, and best represents, the immensity of their musical abilities and star potential. It's also a radio smash waiting for airplay.

It’s apparent to me that the only atlas to solutions they need is one that connects them to the right people, to obtain the exposure they so rightfully deserve.

http://www.musesmuse.com/mrev-offateandchance-anatlas.html - Musemuse.com

There are times, I’ll admit, when modern music leaves me wandering around aimlessly, with my arms to the sky as I shout out in frustration that there are no more “good rock bands” on the radio. Of course, we won’t mention the fact that my teenaged years were in the eighties, which makes Motley Crue the rock band I listened to the most. Nope, that’s irrelevant to the point so far as I’m liable to bend all reality in such a way as to skew it to fit my preconceived notions! Reality shmeality!

Usually, I’ll find new bands and new music through happenstance or the rare suggestion of a friend. Sure, that means that I generally miss out on about 99.99% of any and all of the newer bands that might actually be worth listening to… but when you have a policy in place, there’s no real reason to rock the boat and start stepping outside of the box. It’s warm and cozy in the box, people.

Whatever whimsical notion and assortment of circumstances that brought me to become a part of the Blogcritics family, however, has shaken up my musical world. In short, it’s shaken up my box. Generally, I hate it when people shake up my box.

Blogcritics has allowed me, is the point that I am very laboriously making, to experience music and discover bands and sounds that I might not otherwise have heard. Today’s case in point is a small band from Jersey, named Of Fate And Chance.A Liar's MonologueOf Fate And Chance, comprised of Sean Massaro, Ryan Bergamotto and Jon Fleck, are a small band of relatively young guys that have decided to take a relatively huge step on the path to their future, by releasing their new EP A Liar’s Monologue, independently.

It’s that fact that got me babbling on and on about how I rarely find myself faced with exciting new music. Here was a situation and a band that I would never otherwise have heard of, were it not for my new found friends and family here at Blogcritics. And that would be a shame, because this is a damn good EP.

“Thulcandra’s Illness: Silence” kicks everything off by not really kicking anything at all. It’s slow, it’s ponderous, and it lulls you into following this sedate groove that loops and swirls upon itself. Only thirteen seconds shy of 2-minutes in length, it is a nice and unique way to begin your relationship with this EP.

You can’t demand to hear the roar of the crowd after a home-run, until you’ve settled into your seat and find yourself surrounded by the ambient sounds of the ballpark. Okay, wait. That may be the lamest comparison I’ve ever made… but I like it!

“Artwork Dancing” finds OFAC taking that mellow mood set up by the opening track and then promptly blasting it into outer space with a wonderfully up-tempo groove. If silence is the sickness that infests Thulcandra, then this song sets out to rip apart the clouds and demand that the sun shine down on everyone’s smiling faces and dancing feet. It is one of my favorite songs on the EP, no question.

“A Liar’s Monologue” stutters out of the starting gate with this great interplay between the back-beat rhythm and the guitar’s insistent groove. Eventually, the song erupts into the chorus, only to plunge right back down into another shift in the groove. Funky, simple, and just plain happy to make the acquaintance of your ears, it isn’t hard to see why this was chosen as the title track. Love this song.

“Moonstrung Intoxication” is pretty much the song that signalled to me the fact that this was going to be a cd that I would enjoy. If an album can hold my interest through the first three or four songs, then I know it’ll be worth making my way through until the final track. Too many albums these days are loaded with two decent tracks at the beginning of the album only to be followed by a chain of mediocre songs that could of (and should have) been improved upon.

Not here, though. This song has a great little guitar riff that rides along the very capable back-beat of the drums, only to find itself draped with some very lovely vocal work from the guys.

As a matter of fact, I’ll say that for all the tracks, really. Not only does OFAC’s musicianship work well together, but so do their voices. It’s nice to hear a band that can play and sing at the same time.

“Photo Not-Graphing Emotions,” aside from being one of the more tongue-twisting song titles that I’ve happened upon in a while, also happens to be a damn decent song. Buoyed by some really nice work by the bass and lead guitars, the song just rockets along and leaves you at panting at the end and wanting more.

“Welcome Back To Unconsciousness,” while a good song, is maybe not quite so tight and righteous as the others that come before it. Then again, when I sit and listen to it again (and again) — I realize that I wouldn’t be doing that, if there weren’t something interesting about the track. Notice; I’m not saying this isn’t a good song, only that I’d give it about a 7/10 as opposed to the 9/10s that I’d probably give the other tracks.

I’ve had to listen to bands that I WISH would have had something worthy of me labelling as a 7/10!

“The Hollywood Charity” brings me back in absolute rock and roll happiness, as it soars on the wings of some wonderful drum work. Ye gods can this kid play! How he’s not panting on the floor in a sweaty wreck after playing this song, I have no idea. Probably my 3rd favorite song on the album.

“Coordinates” announces itself, and the end of the EP, with a thunderous bass-line groove. After that, it really doesn’t’ look back, as it climbs and drives itself into a very nice little rhythm. I’ve gotten to know and love this song, as it is the one that lets me know that it is time to hit “repeat” and start the album all over again. Love it.

I guess what I’m trying to say in my usual subtle way (i.e. babbling incoherently and mixing in phrases such as “it rocks!” or “it RULEZ!” in every paragraph or so) is that OFAC have given me what I didn’t even know I wanted — what I needed.

A new and talented band that I can now have the pleasure of watching grow and mature; a band that has enough talent to survive the current trend of pimping a band for one (maybe two) albums, only to cast them aside as they look for the next new thing.

OFAC have a bright future ahead of them, I think. Especially if they continue to record and release music as mature and well-written as the material on A Liar’s Monologue. My hopes for them are that they get the chance to put these songs (or others) on a major label début in the future.

And, of course, that I get to review it!

Of Fate And Chance are currently allowing purchase of A Liar's Monologue on their myspace page for both U.S.A and international orders. They're also selling a fairly rockin' band t-shirt that I wish I were slim enough to be able to fit into, as well. Darn it!



http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/02/06/053716.php - http://blogcritics.org

Of Fate And Chance is a name that precisely symbolizes what it is like being in a rock band where members are totally dependent on destiny and luck for their music to catch on with the masses. The four members of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey's Of Fate And Chance are still attending college while having self-released their debut EP A Liar's Monologue, produced by the band, Ryan Selick, and Scarz. The music has the dark seething registers of Hawthorne Heights, the hardcore/progressive rock brawn of Coheed & Cambria and The Receiving End Of Sirens, the emo-rock arches of This Day And Age and Ellison, and softcore punk texturing correlating to The Starting Line and Moneen.

Lead vocalist/guitarist Sean Massaro, bassist/backup vocalist Ryan Bergamotto, drummer Jon Fleck, and newest member guitarist/backup vocalist Micah Payne create very well crafted songs that are melodically barreled, sonically intriguing, tonally exciting, and sophistically framed. The album commences with a dreamy electronica arrangement entitled "Thulcandra's Illness: Silence" which radiates fantasy-oriented soundscapes in a cinematic panoply. Bergamotto explains on the band's website that the title of the track is a metaphor for planet Earth where people lack the guidance to know right from wrong. He says, "We all go around fighting each other and killing each other because we don't have guidance. Hence, we are silenced from guidance and so silence is Earth's illness." This observation says a great deal about the people who are placed in positions meant to guide others - they've apparently failed.

Many of the band's song titles and lyrics are metaphors and symbols for their emotions and thought-provoking philosophies about life, like the selection "Photo-Not-Graphing Emotions" which represents that someone's photograph does not necessarily tell what that person is feeling. Bergamotto also reveals that the song "Artwork Dancing" depicts his affection for his girlfriend whom he translates as a vision of art.

The songs have a depth of emotion with bulging guitar licks and thriving rhythms reminiscent of Breaking Benjamin. The cylindrical bucking of the guitar chords function in harmony with the hearty bass pumps and snugly nestled drum kicks. The transitions are keenly tailored and the melodic folds stock complex piping. Magnetically charged movements and impassioned vocals surface on tracks like "The Hollywood Charity" and "Coordinates." Tangents of softcore punk vaunts are packed through the rhythmic motions of the title track and "Moonstring Intoxication," and prog rock/emo voicings kerosene "Welcome To Unconsciousness."

Of Fate And Chance's EP A Liar's Monologue is a rock oriented collection where the movements and transitions cord a hard rock delivery while every track tells an individual story. The songs weld mid-tempo ranges and quantum energy in the movements. The album has an alt-nation wiring, submerging into thoughtful moods that are melodically spruced and skillfully kindled. Whatever the band is doing to form these songs, they are doing it right, even in a world that is deficient of the guidance to know right from wrong.

-Susan Frances

Track listing:
1. Thulcandra's Illness: Silence
2. Artwork Dancing
3. A Liar's Monologue
4. Moonstring Intoxication
5. Photo-Not-Graphing Emotions
6. Welcome To Unconscious
7. The Hollywood Charity
8. Coordinates

http://www.hybridmagazine.com/reviews/0407/offateandchacne.shtml - Hybrid Magazine

By Dan MacIntosh

Calling a CD A Liar’s Monologue suggests a person lying to him or herself, and contained within is an album of charging rock. There are a few concessions to emo rock on this eight-song work, such as the loud-soft mood swings displayed during the title track. But unlike most one-trick-pony emo recordings, this one changes tempo a number of times, which gives it a complexity not normally found in the emo genre.

Although Sean Massaro’s vocals cut right through the mix, Jon Fleck’s lively drumming is what stands out most about this release. Rather than just beat his snare into submission, Fleck can be heard spreading his beats around the kit in surprisingly unexpected ways. Of Fate And Chance is a new group well worth taking a chance on.

http://www.indie-music.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5988 - Indie-Music.com

This is one of those discs that makes you wonder "Why the heck do they not have a label deal yet?" While they fit quite well into the "Warped Tour" set, they have sufficiently unique songwriting and delivery to stand out from the crowd. Somebody needs to pick these guys up as a tour opener and get them in front of more people. The instrumental opener was a good choice in that it grabs the listeners attention to such a degree that you are only hoping what follows will be half that cool...and it more than delivers with a pretty tight, cohesive collection of modern rock songs...several of which seem radio worthy, especially 'Photo Not Graphing'. You'll find yourself obsessed with the awesome job done by their drummer, Jon Fleck, who keeps this song set from feeling too emo by putting some power behind it. And Sean Massaro may just be one of the best vocalists you've never heard of...something that is well on it's way to changing with this disc.

http://www.myrockstargallery.com/reviews.html - MY ROCKSTAR GALLERY.COM

Their vocalist reminds me a bit of Brendan from Incubus with his inflection and rhythmic crooning. Well written songs from a group whom have been friends since Middle School. You can tell that they have that great chemistry that only exists between long lasting friendships. Emotional indie punk rock that is captivating and well thought out. This band is as good if not better than the circuit about to tour on this year’s Warped Tour. Record labels that frequent Smother, be sure to check out this band, they just might make you millions! To think that they’re only 19...they easily just produced the most amazing demo I’ll probably hear all year.

- J-Sin

http://www.smother.net/reviews/unsignedbands.php?ID=614 - Smother.net