“The Silt Verses” Review
Folk horror meets divine terror
BY QUINN MCCLURG
If you consider yourself a fan of audio drama, “The Silt Verses” is a must-listen. Beautiful and profound prose is woven into every part of this podcast’s world, underlined and amplified by the masterful vocal performances given by every member of the cast. The individual characters and their haunting complexity is guaranteed to stay with every listener who tunes in.
So what exactly is “The Silt Verses” about? A first-time listener is introduced to the world of this podcast by characters Carpenter and Faulkner, two disciples of an ancient and outlawed river god, as they search for revelations in the thick weeds along their deity’s brutal yet sacred river. As the podcast progresses and the pilgrimage grows longer, stranger gods and their followers are introduced: rural, forgotten gods struggle under the grasp of modern, manufactured gods.
“The Silt Verses” offers sharp commentary on capitalistic societies, life within abusive religions, and other abstract depths of the human condition; however, this commentary is grounded, visceral and meaningful. Nothing is haphazard in execution: a seemingly mundane fast food franchise is given the same amount of thought as a feral, murderous call center worker living in the shadows and worshiping a babbling god.
Boasting snare dogs, crabby cosmic horror, man-grubs, miracles, and divine transfiguration, “The Silt Verses” has a lot to offer horror fans and audio drama listeners alike. The immersive world and its complex characters are masterfully written, acted and sound designed, which creates a horrifying, yet beautifully enthralling listening experience. The horrifyingly realistic sound effects paired with the intensity of the voice actors place listeners right into the environment, whether that be chained to a stake, knee-deep in sucking mud or sprinting through a carnivorous junkyard, which is choked with relics of dumped gods
Even better yet is the fact that the episodes are long enough for a long commute or walk across campus; the content doesn’t feel rushed or poorly paced and takes exactly as long as it needs to get where it needs to go.
My only criticism involves the variable audio volume levels throughout the early seasons of the podcast; however, I’m not sure this podcast was designed to be listened to on AirPods while crossing under the railway bridge in the Como neighborhood.