Best of 2023, Album of the Year: The Bleak Assembly "Strangers Among Strangers"

The debut album by the collaboration between Kimberly of Bow Ever Down and Michael Smith of Fiction 8 hit me like a ton of bricks. Not once did I think that an album would have such a huge emotional impact on me. Writing my review for it provided such a catharsis, and listening to it had me in tears by the time the last notes rang out. With themes of loss and loneliness, Kimberly's voice spoke to me in a way that I have not experienced in quite some time. Perhaps it is because I was dealing with some heavy things at the time, but it almost seemed as if she knew the pain I was experiencing. "Strangers Among Strangers" is an album that I turned to time and time again since its release to the present. I called it music for the broken hearted and I stand by that statement in the best way possible. No doubt about it, this album will leave you breathless.