After a summer spent on the road alongside Kittie, Gore. continues its ascent with the announcement of its new EP, …Then You Cannot Love Me, scheduled for release on October 9 via Spinefarm. To accompany this announcement, the Texan quartet made up of Haley Roughton on vocals, Alex Reyes on guitar, Devin Birchfield on bass and Wills Weller on drums also lifts the veil on “Crucified,” the second single from this new chapter!
With …Then You Cannot Love Me, Gore. continues the project begun with If You Do Not Fear Me…, released in late 2025. The two EPs were conceived as two inseparable parts of the same whole, right down to their titles which echo each other and deliberately leave a line hanging. “We have always wanted to release them this way. We wanted a mood that was more threatening and cynical on the first EP, then, as time goes by, to evolve our sound toward something that better reflects what we want to be as a band. I hope the fans, especially those who have followed us since day one, will see this evolution and understand how the two EPs connect,” explains Haley Roughton.
“Crucified” sits squarely within this meditation on toxic relationships, seduction, and conflicting feelings. Roughton describes the track as the account of someone attractive enough to draw you straight toward temptation, until you voluntarily accept the chaos you know to be inevitable. “You idolize them. You struggle with all your might to resist, but their presence is both painful and pleasing, and you end up giving in to that person and the chaos you know they will provoke.”
This duality runs through the two EPs. Where If You Do Not Fear Me… plunges into a darker, more suffocating atmosphere, …Then You Cannot Love Me aims to be more restrained and oriented toward acceptance. Gore. thus explores these “irreconcilable” feelings that stay locked inside us, without necessarily triggering action or offering a true escape. A theme especially powerful when applied to women trapped in abusive relationships.
The titles of the two EPs indeed directly reference the power dynamics that can set in within unhealthy relationships. “There is always some form of power balance in truly toxic relationships. We are taught from a young age that if a man does not fear losing you, it means he does not love you. Men, meanwhile, learn to be detached and not to care too much about things. So we all grow up with these wounds that eventually resurface.”
Since A Bud That Never Blooms, their debut EP, Gore. has significantly broadened their audience. Initially noticed after posting their tracks on YouTube, the Texans rapidly drew international attention and earned support from bands like Motionless In White, Papa Roach and Flyleaf. Their strategy of drip-feeding tracks before unveiling the full project now makes perfect sense with these two EPs designed as two faces of the same story.
Having refused to become a simple copy of another band, Gore. now seems determined to forge its own path. …Then You Cannot Love Me, and in particular “Crucified,” could prove to be a significant new milestone in this ascent.
