Long before the boom of Serial, Making a Murderer, and Netflix docuseries fueled by ominous voiceovers and blurred-out faces, the American public was already primed for late-night chills. Shows like America’s Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries seeded a fascination with crime that now dominates podcasts and streaming charts—especially those helmed by women whose voices lend empathy and intimacy to their insatiable curiosity about unsolved cases and what drives individuals to commit such heinous acts. Belgian gothic synth-rock band Lovelorn Dolls tap directly into this true-crime media explosion with their new EP, True Crimes. It’s a record that doesn’t just recount cold cases—it exhumes them, giving voice to the voiceless in spectral song.
Since forming in Brussels, Lovelorn Dolls has balanced synth textures, heavy guitars, and Kristell’s haunting vocal presence. Their sound evokes spectral lineages—Theatre of Tragedy, Lacuna Coil, The Birthday Massacre—while their visual identity leans “creepy cute,” merging gothic costumes and cinematic mise-en-scène. The tension between innocence and horror, playful darkness and ritual gravity, has always been their signature.
The True Crimes EP is a tightly wound, thematic four-song EP that reframes real-life mysteries as haunted elegies. Each track corresponds to a notorious unresolved case, blurring the lines between folklore, tragedy, and gothic ritual.
The opening cut, “Dahlia Bleeds”, draws from the infamous Black Dahlia murder in 1947 Los Angeles, turning Elizabeth Short’s unsolved fate into a dirge of distortion and spectral melody. Male and female vocals intertwine to embody the contrasting ways Short was portrayed—innocent dreamer and femme fatale, victim and myth. The result is a track that mirrors the duality of her legacy while underscoring the brutality of her end.
“The Boy in the Box” offers something more mournful: a lullaby turned dirge. It recounts the heartbreaking mystery of the unidentified young boy discovered in a box in Philadelphia in 1957, a case that still unsettles investigators. Sparse instrumentation and spectral harmonies lend it the feel of a ghost child’s cradle song, fragile yet haunting. Its accompanying video deepens the narrative, layering images of detective boards, crime scenes, and a chilling skeletal reveal that lingers like a nightmare.
“Call Me Your Ghost” invokes the cryptic terror of the Zodiac Killer, who taunted California police and media with letters and ciphers in the late 1960s. Here, ghostly harpsichord-like synths twist into sharp guitar lines, conjuring both ritual and menace. The refrain—“Call Me Your Ghost”—resounds like a ciphered chant, an echo of anonymous dread and public obsession. It is the EP’s most ritualistic turning point, steeped in both coded terror and gothic ferocity.
“Velvet Little Voice” concludes the EP with uncanny intimacy, channeling the tragic case of JonBenét Ramsey. Warbling synths and spectral vocal effects mirror the media circus that surrounded her death, while Kristell’s soaring delivery gives voice to the silenced child. A male vocal undercurrent cuts through like accusation or interrogation, heightening the tension. The track’s atmosphere—part séance, part elegy—captures both the sorrow of innocence lost and the exploitation that followed.
True Crimes’ cover art crystallizes the EP’s intent: a gothic girl gazes at a wall of crime boards and victim photos, caught between the roles of detective and medium, both witness and oracle. It is an image that mirrors the music itself, where unsolved histories are assembled not as spectacle but as a case file under examination. With newcomer Eric Renwart adding sharpened edges and layered depth on guitar and engineering, Lovelorn Dolls move with greater precision into this unsettling terrain. True Crimes is not a thematic diversion, but a deliberate inquiry —one that listens to the tension between folklore and fact. In examining humanity’s darkest mysteries through sound, the band reminds us why those drawn to the shadows are often best equipped to give voice to the silence left behind.
Listen to the True Crimes EP below, and order here.
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