Initiate reveal new EP With Love // With Rage and single Numb The Pain
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Southern California hardcore band Initiate have announced a new EP titled With Love // With Rage, alongside its lead single and video "Numb The Pain". The release marks the group's first substantial new output since their 2022 debut album Cerebral Circus, following only a one-off 2025 single called "Too Much", and continues their approach of blending traditional hardcore with soaring melodies and unexpected instrumental flourishes.
The five-track EP, which features "Burn After Reading", "Delusions", "Shadowboxing", "Numb The Pain" and "Future Saving Grace", is set for release on 7 August via Blue Grape Music. Reviewer Tom Breihan praised "Numb The Pain" for its heavy, mosh-ready sections and touches such as acoustic-guitar strums, noting how the band swerves from an expected breakdown into something prettier. The piece also mentions that Initiate recently played the UK's Outbreak Fest, where frontwoman Crystal Pak joined La Dispute on stage.
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Initiate are a hardcore band from Southern California, known for mixing the heavier, more aggressive side of hardcore music with melodic sections and unusual instrumental touches rather than sticking to a single formula. They released their debut album, Cerebral Circus, in 2022, and since then have put out only one standalone single, "Too Much", in 2025.
The band's frontwoman is Crystal Pak, who has recently been performing at UK festivals such as Outbreak Fest and appearing alongside other acts on stage there. Their upcoming release, due out through the label Blue Grape Music, will be their first full body of new work in a few years, made up of five tracks that blend heavy, mosh-friendly moments with softer or more melodic passages.
This matters mainly to fans of hardcore and heavier guitar music, as it signals a returning act filling out its sound after a fairly quiet period since its debut, rather than a major mainstream music event.
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Originally published by Stereogum as “Initiate Announce New EP With Love // With Rage: Hear “Numb The Pain””.