The Coyote Caught Up
Based on our own assumptions that have just about no basis whatsoever, it appears that when a bigger label signs a small, up-and-coming act, another existing act has to sellout so they can make that money back for the smaller band. Yeah, I know that is (probably) complete BS, but it is one way to justify our lead review this week. But stick around for the other reviews (and music) because it definitely gets better from there.
Reviews:
Trivium – Silence in the Snow (Roadrunner)
Wild Throne – Harvest of Darkness (Roadrunner)
Black Breath – Slaves Beyond Death (Southern Lord)
The Arcane Order – Cult of None (Massacre)
Trivium – Silence In The Snow
Wild Throne – Harvest Of Darkness
Black Breath – Slaves Beyond Death
The Arcane Order – Cult Of None
The Sideshow Podcast 
It is definitely more common among smaller bands without large label influence, but I can think of a few three piece bands that record with no rhythm guitar so solos are just backed by bass. I’ve always enjoyed that approach.
Sorry you bought Deafheaven. That’s rough man!
We’re at a point where each week I alternate which host I agree with. Last week I agreed more with Brian regarding Scale The Summit and Gloryhammer, but this week I’m agreeing with Nick on Trivium. Trivium has certainly been moving towards being a radio friendly band for a while now, but with Silence In The Snow they’ve gone a bit too far in that direction. There’s nothing wrong with radio rock/metal, but a band needs to make the music interesting even if they try to appeal more to the mainstream. But with Silence In The Snow, Trivium seems to have just made generic radio music rather than good radio music.
I like the production and mixing tips from Nick. I knew that bands typically panned one guitar left and the other guitar right, but never considered what you do with one guitar, even if it is overdubbed. As for how you play live as a 3 piece, how does any band play live when there is a guitar solo? Even going back to Black Sabbath, you can hear on record that when Tony Iommi is playing a guitar solo, there is still his guitar riff playing at the same time as his solo because it was overdubbed in the studio. I suspect that when playing live, they just don’t have the second guitar playing the riff and there’s just the solo.
I agree that the “Kurt Ballou sound” is great. Whenever I think of albums he has produced, two of my favorites are Nails and Kvelertak. Even though Nails and Kvelertak are quite different bands, Kurt still manages to make each band sound distinctive while still being able to hear his influence on the production. I wonder if we would all like Nails as much as we do if Kurt Ballou wasn’t their producer.
You mentioned you won’t be listening to the new Deafheaven. You are smarter men than I. I listened to their previous album Sunbather a couple of years ago and couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about. So now when New Bermuda just came out, I read all these glowing reviews of it and decided to buy it and give it a chance. That was a mistake. Can I get my money back from Amazon? If you didn’t like Deafheaven before, you won’t like them on their new album.