Empire Underground is a basement room. That matters when the band is Initiate. Low ceiling, standing room only, sound with nowhere to go but straight through you — that is the setup for a Southern California hardcore band that has been earning stages like this for a decade.
Initiate formed in Orange County in 2016, and the origin story is very them: singer Crystal Pak responded to a guitarist’s tweet as a joke and the band became real anyway. That same scrappy, make-it-work energy runs through everything they do. Crystal’s vocal approach — commanding, urgent, emotionally precise — led Stereogum to call her growl “one of the best commanding growls I’ve heard in ages.” That is not hyperbole. If you have seen them live, you know.
Their sound occupies the space between melodic hardcore and post-hardcore: big riffs with snap and precision, atmospheric textures that keep things from ever going one-note. Their 2018 debut Before Long…, the self-released 2020 Lavender EP, and the more recent single “Too Much” (January 2025) have built a catalog that translates well in a tight room. Initiate is also one of the more intentionally political bands working in this space. They use their platform to amplify femme and queer voices, and Crystal has put it plainly: “Hardcore is a political space. You have to give a shit.”
The Albany date arrives with support from Juicebox — and it lands just before Initiate heads into a co-headlining North American run with Enter Shikari beginning June 10. Catch them Monday in a room this size, before the tour gets any bigger.
Empire Underground is at 93 N Pearl St in Albany — the basement level of Empire Live. The space is standing room only and 16+ (or accompanied by a parent or guardian 21 or older). Box office hours run Monday through Friday, 11 AM to 4 PM; show-day hours vary. Find more Albany-area shows here.
Doors for a 7:30 PM Monday night show. Tickets available through Ticketmaster.