Westlife promise 'strongest album yet'

Westlife have promised that their upcoming ninth studio album will be the group's strongest to date.

The Irish boyband, who have not released any new material for two years, insisted that they will surprise fans when they return later this year.

"The album will have no covers at all - we want it to be our strongest ever," Shane Filan told the Irish Daily Mirror.

"We're working on it in the studios at the minute and it's really exciting. We took a decision that we didn't want to do any covers at all this time round and give the fans 100% new material.

"We know this has to be something special because we have been away for over a year. I think everyone is going to be really surprised when they hear it."

Guy Chambers, former Savage Garden star Darren Hayes and Ryan Tedder, who penned Leona Lewis's 'Bleeding Love', are all rumoured to have contributed material for the new record.

"We're lucky to be working with some amazing writers and I'm sure this album is going to bring us back with a bang," Filan added.

"We want great up-tempo songs and some really strong ballads. That's what we made our name with and that's what we want to do again.

"The plan is to release the album before Christmas and then hit the road for a tour next year."

Westlife have sold over 40 million copies of their nine previous albums, seven of which were bestsellers in the UK.