Podcast Review: TMA

Podcast Review

Contributed by Taryn Tranby, Patron Services

A long somber violin tune greets your ears and a low Londoner’s voice whispers “Rusty Quill Presents...The Magnus Archives.” This eerie welcome brings you into each episode of The Magnus Archives. If you start at the beginning of the series, it starts out as twenty-minute tales of horror that have been submitted to the fictional Magnus Institute in the form of statements. Most episodes are recorded by Jonathan Sims, the head archivist at the institute. 

I discovered The Magnus Archives after seeing a great deal of content on a social media platform I frequent. It was mostly fanart, but I was intrigued and added it to my Google Play podcasts. There it sat, for several months while I readily ignored it in favor of Ologies and The Adventure Zone. It was like having a pile of books next to my bed waiting to be read and consumed, but I had to be in just the right mood to be able to get to it. This is a podcast that you need to devote some attention to in order to be able to absorb the creeping dread.

I’ve never been a fan of horror; I didn’t really understand the appeal of jumpscares and gore. This podcast offers neither, instead relying on the slow torture of Sims’ voice not so much reading the statements as performing them. That isn’t to say that his voice itself is torture - quite the opposite! He’s excellent at evoking the feelings that the fictional writer might have and the editing and soundscaping only add to the excitement. Ambient sounds and slow, creeping instrumentals are played in the background at pivotal points during a statement or episode. Because Sims is recording in his fictional office at the archives, occasionally he’s visited by another voice, usually, a coworker butting in or an individual making a statement in person.

As the podcast proceeds, you begin to discover a pattern in certain statements and the world is slowly built through these short recordings. You learn to recognize the voices of Sims’ coworkers: Tim, Martin, Sasha, and their boss, Elias. What started out as some enjoyable eerie tales to listen to while working, became much more exciting than I was aware of with an overarching plot spanning several seasons. 

As of right now, it has spanned 160 statement and plot-driven episodes, with some Q&A following each season and a few tabletop gaming episodes as well. The Magnus Archives can be found on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.