Description
“True Crimes” is the final LOVELORN DOLLS release shaped by Bernard before his sudden death – an EP haunted by absence, unresolved voices, and open endings. Rather than sealing a chapter, it leaves space: for doubt, for memory, for continuation.
Kristell looks back at the making of the record, the meaning we project onto art after loss, and the fragile line between preserving a legacy and allowing it to evolve. What emerges is not closure, but a refusal of silence. Kristell therefore confirmed all forthcoming LOVELORN DOLLS concerts with new line-up and decided to release this EP as a very limited edition (200 copies worldwide). She also added as bonus the very emotional song she played at Bernard’s funeral together with close friends: “Dancing At Your Funeral (tribute)”, a sort of last goodbye featuring Kristell Lowagie, Eric Renwart, Benjamin Albertani, Laura Crowe, Marja Supponen, Nicolas Brynin, Valéry Granson.
Belgium’s female-fronted goth metal pop act LOVELORN DOLLS’s haunting “True Crimes” EP features 4 original tracks where unsolved murders and ghostly whispers are turned into music.
With their trademark “creepy cute” aesthetic – somewhere between Tim Burton’s eerie fairytales and darkwave’s sharpest edges – LOVELORN DOLLS weave chilling true crime stories into gothic anthems. “Dahlia Bleeds” revisits the infamous Black Dahlia, “Velvet Little Voice” ghostly embodies JonBenét Ramsey, “The Boy in the Box” mourns America’s forgotten child, while “Call Me Your Ghost” channels the Zodiac Killer’s menace. Each track transforms tragedy into melody, where truth and myth bleed into sound, like darkwave lullabies for the restless dead.
Musically, “True Crimes” is a perfect storm: explosive guitars, haunting synths, industrial undertones, and Kristell’s distinctive vocals, shifting from fragile innocence to raw power. The band’s DNA – gothic melancholy, cinematic atmosphere, and a sharp alternative edge – evokes echoes of THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE, LACUNA COIL, MARILYN MANSON, or THEATRE OF TRAGEDY, yet remains unmistakably their own.
This release also marked a new chapter for LOVELORN DOLLS, now joined by guitarist and sound engineer Eric Renwart, who brings both visceral energy on stage and refined depth to the band’s evolving sound.
The cover artwork captures the EP’s essence: a little goth girl standing before an investigation board, piecing together crimes too big for her hands. She embodies both innocence and obsession – the same duality the music conveys, drawing us into a world of unanswered questions and spectral voices.
With “True Crimes”, LOVELORN DOLLS invite us to listen, to shiver, and to remember: four ghosts, four confessions, one gothic EP… and now to also remember a brilliant artist gone far too soon. Rest in peace, Bernard. Your art remains, and so does the mark you left on all of us.
