California hardcore band Initiate dropped one of their best songs yet at the beginning of 2025 with “Too Much,” but a year and a half went by and it never ended up being the lead single from a new record or anything. Now, they’ve finally announced a new EP, With Love // With Rage, due out August 7 via Blue Grape (pre-order). It’ll be their first release since their great 2023 album Cerebral Circus. “When I looked back at the lyrics, everything read as a letter, either to another person in my life, my friends, or myself,” vocalist Crystal Pak says. “However, a letter to a friend would be signed off ‘With Love’ not ‘With Rage.’ I intentionally wrote these songs, so they spoke to these two opposing feelings: Love and rage. You can tell which tracks spill to which side.”
“Too Much” isn’t on the EP, but lead single “Numb the Pain” is, and this is another great one. It finds Initiate doing what they do best, combining aggressive hardcore with the more melodic and delicate elements of post-hardcore, and it’s a heavy, beautiful rager. Check out the song and its video below.
“We all wondered, ‘What would it sound like if Clairo wrote a Quicksand record?,'” Pak says about the song, adding that it “starts off with a callback to our last single, ‘Alone At the Bottom,’ showcasing the ebbs and flows that life can throw at you. Where much of hardcore leans into anthems of brotherhood and sisterhood, this track still embraces those themes, but frames them through a more introspective lens. The addition of melodic softness and acoustic elements makes it clear from the outset that this is meant to land differently — not as a rallying cry, but as something more personal and reflective. In a way, it stands apart while still feeling connected to the core of what we do — expanding our sound without losing the heart behind it, and showing that strength doesn’t always have to come through volume alone.”
Initiate have festival dates in the summer and fall, and then they’ll be on tour with Senses Fail and Koyo through December. That run wraps up with a Brooklyn show at Warsaw on December 18, and you can see all dates below.
INITIATE – WITH LOVE // WITH RAGE TRACKLIST
Burn After Reading
Delusions
Shadowboxing
Numb the Pain
Future Saving Grace
INITIATE: 2026 TOUR DATES
7/25–7/26—Long Beach, CA—Warped Tour
8/21–8/22—Montréal, QC—Warped Tour
9/11–9/13—Edmonton, AB—Purple City Music Festival
10/23–10/25—Gainesville, FL—The Fest
11/14–11/15—Orlando, FL—Warped Tour
11/19—Los Angeles, CA—Belasco *
11/20—Las Vegas, NV—House of Blues *
11/21—San Diego, CA—Observatory North Park *
11/23—Portland, OR—Crystal Ballroom *
11/24—Seattle, WA—Neptune Theatre *
11/27—Salt Lake City, UT—The Depot *
11/28—Denver, CO—Summit Music Hall *
11/30—Dallas, TX—Echo Lounge & Music Hall *
12/1—San Antonio, TX—Aztec Theatre *
12/2—Houston, TX—House of Blues *
12/4—St. Petersburg, FL—Jannus Live *
12/5—Atlanta, GA—Buckhead Theatre *
12/6—Nashville, TN—Brooklyn Bowl *
12/8—Chicago, IL—House of Blues *
12/9—Cincinnati, OH—Bogart’s *
12/11—Detroit, MI—Saint Andrew’s Hall *
12/12—Toronto, ON—Opera House *
12/13—Montreal, QC—Théâtre Beanfield *
12/15—Boston, MA—Big Night Live *
12/16—Philadelphia, PA—Theatre of Living Arts *
12/18—Brooklyn, NY—Warsaw *
* with Senses Fail & Koyo