hey, you should check out The Blood Still Speaks :)
It’s a “supernatural noir” as described by the creators! A friend of mine recommended the show to me, and I gave the pilot a whirl (which released just yesterday!)
It follows medical examiner Abel James Carter, working in New Orleans, and occasionally dying. But it’s no problem (or perhaps it is); the guy was cursed to never die. Something’s definitely off though, and Abel’s got to make sure that dying trick of his doesn’t catch up to him.
Mostly spoiler free review bullet points, go!
This is a really fun concept, and I love how you leant into the medium of audio for the autopsy report. Each character feels distinct and unique in voice and tone, and I can’t wait to find out more about each.
Mostly good mixing! Phone calls were occasionally hard to make out, the second character was less easy to listen to than the first though
Lots of breaks in the dialogue, more than I’d expect. Abel felt like he took half a second to process each sentence, but I liked the pacing during the autopsy. Could have been a little snappier outside of it maybe.
Great music choice for the open and close :) It was really hard to hear the credits though
Eagerly waiting for more, but would really like a transcript!
Go check ‘em out @thebloodstillspeaks :)
Well done all involved, you did a great job <3
I’ve brought up Brimstone Valley Mall a decent amount of times in the past, fairly recently in my Halloween recommendations post, and while it’s always been in a positive light, I’ve never really gotten into the nitty gritty as to why it’s such a frequent feature on this blog.
It’s not enough to mention something in the world of independent journalism, you have to articulate yourself, provide explanations, or forever risk looking like an absolute hack.
Every so often, you just run into a show that really rocks you to your core, and reminds you of why you decided to dedicate a significant portion of your time and energy into discovering and discussing niche audio drama.
Brimstone Valley Mall is one of those shows, an absolute firecracker of charm, wit, and humor, wrapped up in a package that simply beams with confidence and attitude as if still glowing hot red from the hellfire it was spawned from.
And, as much as this would be the excellent paired package with Atypical Artists' TWO THOUSAND AND LATE, both shows being about demons adjusting to the confusing and often contradictory nature of the human world, I've kinda got this whole Atypical August thing being sorted out for 2026, and I'd much rather save my review for that fine summer day in the coming future.
However, Brimstone Valley Mall still does fall in line with my post-Halloween styled reviews right next to my review of the rather spooky Ronstadt, so still consider this to be on brand.
Brimstone Valley Mall comes to us from the winter of 2019, right on the tail end of the 2010's fiction podcast boom.
The year is 1999, and the band, Mall Rat, composed of a group of dysfunctional demons trying to buy their way back into Hell, have a massive gig on the horizon as the opening act at Hell's big Y2K party.
Among them is drummer and short-tempered demon of gluttony Misroch, guitarist and levelheaded demon of sloth Belzagor, and bassist and the promiscuous demon of lust, Asmoraius.
All that's missing is demon of summoning and lead singer Hornblas, who has gone missing under mysterious circumstances, and shows no signs of showing up in time for the most crucial performance of Mall Rat's career.
That's the kind of insane setup that immediately just catches the eye and imagination, and Brimstone Valley Mall absolutely does not disappoint as a strongly written and exceptionally produced black comedy.
I don't use the words "laugh out loud funny" often, even with all the comedy podcasts I've listened to, but I have literally had to keep myself quiet while listening to certain gags on this show in risk of sounding like a lunatic.
The comedic timing of Brimstone Valley Mall is top tier: fast paced, whip smart, silly yet witty, and packed with excellent callbacks in an airtight structure.
Something that I must bring up here is the mastery of its formatting. Brimstone Valley Mall subscribes to a particular setup in roughly every episode, at least as far as season one is concerned, opening and concluding with an answering machine message, transitioning into scenes with a few guitar strums, and its ongoing gag of the mall intercom messages that contain nothing but absolute gems.
I like how they introduce the concept of Hell Coins which reminds me of the Heaven Coins in Panty & Stocking, both serving more or less the same purpose. I love how a lot of the information we learn about Hornblas is through a bunch of recollections of dramatic emotional meltdowns. I love the random uses of hellish wordplay and all the punny names for known businesses that are as goofy as they are clever.
And, as a lover of aesthetics, the show's presentation simply oozes with personality. It possesses a thorough understanding of the nineties that parodies the era without being too cynical, filled to the brink with old tech, dated trends, and tongue in cheek references that perfectly encompass all the fun and absurdity of the goth subculture.
Paired with its deliberately over the top interpretation of capitalism, Brimstone takes full advantage of its mall setting and time period of choice to be self-reflective of such a massive cultural shift during the turn of the millennium.
By the time reveals are made and plots start to twist, is when the second season rolls around, and for a minute, it feels like the oil on the wheels has begun to wear off, though that's just narrative shifts for you.
There's a somewhat more emotional, almost domestic vibe to the second season that, while it slows down the pace for a couple of episodes, does give some developing relationships the space to breathe, as well as allowing us to understand the deeper layers of the cast.
Though I could see some stuff coming and could predict one or two things that I knew would arrive for narrative tension, Brimstone, while short on surprises, is still so competently written that it damn near gets away with it.
All around, Brimstone Valley Mall takes a very out-there concept and utilizes it to its full potential, still leaving room for any number of different shenanigans. I could very well see such a colorful cast getting wrapped up in such a wide variety of adventures, especially if they're still pulling from the bible for inspiration.
Brimstone I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who’s looking for a black comedy not at all lacking in heart, for something delectably dark yet brimming with a warped sense of wholesomeness that would normally be a difficult balancing act.
Brimstone Valley Mall is the scraped knee under a pair of already torn fishnets, the teen nearly choking to death around their spiked choker necklace, the one friend who insists on watching The Nightmare Before Christmas for both Halloween and Christmas, and I love it all the more for it.
Brimstone Valley Mall manages to be both a nineties/Y2K period piece and yet a prime example of the 2010's audio drama scene in an era full of heavy hitters-experimental, bold, all the while being exceptionally acted and made with plenty of love.
It's a hell of a good time, a devilish delight, and I'll be dammed if I can't give it a hearty recommendation to ensure I'm ending 2025 on the right cloven hoof.
if you want to support my writing, cake radio has a ko-fi and patreon in need of funds to keep this bakery open. thank you for reading and stay sweet.
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