A somewhat mysterious Goth rock outfit from Haledon, NJ
(also home to the vastly different Feelies and their various permutations),
Black Sea only managed a single album, 1990's An Early Fall, but their melodic
and somewhat pop-oriented brand of moody guitar rock earned favourable
comparisons to the Cure, the Church, and similar '80s purveyors of crepuscular
atmospherics. Singer and guitarist Augustine, bassist Tony Malzone, keyboardist
Stephen Vasko, and drummer James "Buddy" Righteous signed with the
small New York indie No. 6 Records, distributed by Rough Trade, and released An
Early Fall in late 1990. Despite several fine tracks, including a near-ambient
recasting of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," the album did little.
Aside from a single track on the 1991 Goth rock compilation Dr. Death's, Vol.4: the Marvels of Insect Life on C'Est la Mort, the band never recorded again
and its members apparently left the music business.
