I don’t think I’ve ever had lower expectations than when I read that this EP by Gothic rock musician The Inferno Doll, dealt with “fantasy and dark romance.” To my surprise, however, instead of some terrible synth-rock about vampires, what I found was one of the most interesting and promising singers that I’ve ever heard in a long time.
The Inferno Doll is a Canada-based project of Chilean singer Laura Vargas who, in only 3 songs, demonstrates a really tremendous skill. She has a voice that seems capable of seamlessly going from sounding like Dool, Myrkur, and Lacuna Coil, to even some pretty solid growling. This versatility is made evident thanks to the choice of songs in the EP, and which allow Laura to showcase her abilities in different settings, be it the siren chants or the Dool-like wails in “Sacrifice” (where she is accompanied by a Greek Bouzouki), or her electronic-sounding voice, reminiscent of Leave‘s Eyes, in “Ghost Waltz”. There’s even the Parkway Drive-sounding (and a bit derivative) “Land of Lords”, where she does a great job complementing the growls by singers from Fjell Thyngor and Cries.
Of course, nothing is perfect, and this EP is no exception. The lowest point here is the mixing and production, since Laura‘s voice often gets overshadowed in the mix. It isn’t terrible, but it does hurt the songs. For a self-released EP, however, the overall quality is actually pretty good, especially in comparison to her 2015 debut Dollmation, which had significantly worse flaws in that department
There’s no question that there’s still a lot of room left to grow for The Inferno Doll. Seeing how much quality was packed in just 3 songs, however, it’s exciting to think about what the future holds.