The very notion of being expansive and imaginative by name is something that few realms are able to incorporate into their very being as well as what instrumental rock has done over the years. Through tons of experimentation, soul-searching, and likely more than a little bit of mind-altering substances, the soundscape of instrumental rock as a whole has become something that is nothing to underestimate with its psychedelic reaches of the more popular, yet there’s always something to be said for those who wander in this current layer of reality. Taking on a much more emotional and grounded approach, it’s with their newest album that Goodbye Meteor explores all that instrumental post-rock can bring to the table in exquisite fashion.

For all that we have achieved as a species, it can be said without so much as a thought that we have performed acts both amazingly positive and horrifically negative. It’s something that has inspired musicians ever since music began to take on a deeper meaning early on in the development of the human condition with it still be viciously relative to this day. Plenty have tried their hand at doing so, and it’s here with everything that’s brought forth within “We Could Have Been Radiant” that Goodbye Meteor only honors that deep legacy. Comprised of six magnificently immersive tracks that take on the very best of what post-rock has always been known for, Goodbye Meteor picks up exactly where it left off with 2022’s “Metanoia” only to slowly change the direction. Where there has been positivity and light unbound in our existence, the ever-looming threat of darkness, despair, and cataclysm are always knocking on our door with a human set of emotions oftentimes the tipping point between pushing us towards disaster or a new eon of spectacles. Driven masterfully by atmospheres and captivating rhythms that keep the listener utterly rooted in place as the entire expanse of what humanity is capable of flashes before the eyes. Within six tracks, Goodbye Meteor pulls at the heartstrings and knocks us down to an emotional low from which there seems to be no return, but the ending of “We Could Have Been Radiant” stands as a hopeful rallying cry. To put us back on the righteous path before it is too late. Otherwise, darkness is all we know, so we simply must preserve the light of the present. Many have tried to bring forth such an extremely evocative sound through the same messages, but it’s at every turn that Goodbye Meteor proves to be much more than what many others simply are.

This is what happens when post-rock is given the instrumental treatment that it deserves with all that sprawling atmospheres and compelling themes that it has always been known for in some capacity with only the best able to bring it forward. For all that was delivered within “We Could Have Been Radiant”, Goodbye Meteor stands monolithically tall and seems utterly indomitable for everything that it sought to achieves and does so in spectacular form.

LISTEN to “We Could Have Been Radiant” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Goodbye Meteor on Facebook here.