ninehertz

Released on the first day of 2026 and heralding the new year with a ferocious crash come Mishima, a perfect, quick blast of energy that tells me immediately there’ll be no let up in underground unknown bands bringing brilliant music to us in the months ahead.

A five piece from Maryland, they list everything from black metal to heavy psych, from skramz to sludge as their sound, drawing me on intrigue, and live up to that wide array, encompassing elements of all of those in just three songs and under sixteen minutes total.

The title track is deliberately harsh through its production and vocals, quickly recalling the great Cloud Rat – an apt pointer all round actually, for this is a blistering mixture of punk, screamo and an overarching blackened aura through a heaviness and aggressive front-foot approach. It’s an effervescent listen despite its overcast nature. Eye Cancer starts with a black metal vibed freneticism, before slowing somewhat into an almost doom middle.

They pick at that thread even further on the final track Plaguescape, changing once more, heading smartly into a lovely swinging stoner doom riff of old times. It is extremely satisfying too, the pace of course completely drained until it picks up into a midtempo sludgier rhythm. I’m grinning widely as the wailing guitars bring it to a close. And then we’re done – a very satisfying EP with a band willing to vary in the darkness, and just the new year’s fix I needed.