Southern California’s Initiate just leveled up. The five-piece — vocalist Crystal Pak, bassist Michael Morales, guitarists Draven Carter and Manning Gray, and drummer John Hodge — have officially joined the Blue Grape Music roster, sharing space with heavy-hitters like Code Orange, White Reaper, Superheaven, and the newly-signed Power Trip. And they’re not showing up empty-handed.

The band has announced their new EP, With Love // With Rage, arriving August 7. To mark the occasion, they’ve dropped the video for “Numb the Pain,” a Bella Petro-directed visual that pulls back the curtain on a band unafraid to soften the edges without dulling the blade. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/E8qQwafddH0

“When I looked back at the lyrics, everything read as a letter, either to another person in my life, my friends, or myself,” Pak explains. “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.”

If that framing sounds ambitious, the sonic reference points are even bolder. Initiate cite Hum, Deftones, Jane’s Addiction, Rage Against the Machine, and Failure alongside their longstanding love of Paramore. Or, as Pak puts it more succinctly: “We all wondered, ‘What would it sound like if Clairo wrote a Quicksand record?'” Honestly? Sign us up.

“Numb the Pain” opens with a callback to the band’s previous single “Alone At the Bottom,” a nod to the emotional whiplash of daily life. Where a lot of hardcore leans on anthems of brotherhood and sisterhood, this track reframes those ideas through a more introspective lens, weaving in melodic softness and acoustic textures. “It’s meant to land differently,” Pak says, “not as a rallying cry, but as something more personal and reflective… showing that strength doesn’t always have to come through volume alone.”

WITH LOVE // WITH RAGE — TRACK LISTING
1. Burn After Reading
2. Delusions
3. Shadowboxing
4. Numb the Pain
5. Future Saving Grace

Initiate are staying on the road well into the new year. After a buzzed-about run through Europe and the UK — including a standout Outbreak Fest set in Manchester, where Pak joined La Dispute onstage — the band will hit multiple Warped Tour dates, play The Fest in Gainesville, and then head out on a massive North American tour supporting Senses Fail and Koyo through November and December.

FESTIVAL 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

WITH SENSES FAIL + KOYO
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

Pre-order With Love // With Rage now, queue up “Numb the Pain,” and catch Initiate on the road this fall. Something tells us this is the era where everything clicks.