It’s exciting to get a tour with excellent metal bands coming through Chester – it simply doesn’t happen that often – so with Heart Of A Coward and Unprocessed choosing to stop off at The Live Rooms, ROCKFLESH jumped on the chance to get along for the fun.

First up are local lads Severenth. They’ve only just reformed this year after disbanding back around 2013, and are looking to hit the ground running with a new album in the works. I’m expecting them to peddle some of the more classic groove metal sound I sampled from previous album “Reveal”, but what they actually deliver is a vibrant tech-infused adaptation of nu metal. You could almost describe them as a stripped-back version of SikTh – not just because of the flailing dreadlocks, but the delightfully idiosyncratic guttural to clean vocal switches, and rich jagged guitars. I hope the new material translates well to record, as I think these guys could generate some real buzz in the north-west in 2020.

Unprocessed are sublime in their delivery of inexplicably intricate proggy tech-metal. At the time of writing founding guitarist and vocalist Manuel Gardner Fernandes is nominated for MusicRadar ‘Best Prog Guitarist’ of 2019, and I’m not shy in saying that I’ve voted for him. He’s detailed and meticulous on record, and a mindbogglingly virtuoso live. His vocals are also excellent, demonstrating an understanding of the craft of both clean and shouted vocal styles. Visually, and with crowd interaction in mind, they might benefit from a frontman who isn’t stuck behind the mic stand, but that’s me being picky. The band as a whole provide a fierce yet melodic mix of djent and metalcore, very much akin to their Long Branch Records labelmates Cold Night For Alligators, but with a massive helping of funk added into the mix. There’s truly a plethora of strings on stage, with three guitars and bass going at it technically from the start to finish of every song. Fans of bands such as Kadinja, Monuments and heavier TesseracT tracks will thrive on what Unprocessed produce both live and on record, but I think there are elements that will speak to fans of poppy atmospheric acts like VOLA as well.

Heart Of A Coward strut on stage to yelps of glee from the small but perfectly formed crowd. They musically hit hard from the outset, like a brutal but groovy djent-metalcore beast that the crowd lap up eagerly. Distinctive high-gain, low-pitch guitars layer over pounding snare hits and thumping kickdrum. Vishal “V” Khetia weaves his way around the stage in-between the other members of the band, as frontman Kaan perches at the front of the stage to deliver his snarling, violent screams intermixed with searching raw melodic vocals. The band feel even more brutal than the last time I saw them, and have certainly settled into the material from latest album “The Disconnec”. Everyone at ROCKFLESH Towers is a big fan of these guys, and I hope beyond hope that they can finally breakthrough to the big time in 2020. Tonight, there’s an effortless coherence to their live performance, no apologetic pauses or awkward gaps between songs, just extreme precision and an assured confidence. The pit swirls and slams along to every drum hit and guitar strike and closer ‘Deadweight’ is a triumphantly fierce finish to yet another superb set.