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The end of the year is the perfect time for a band to release a new album. For the fans, it makes for a great Christmas gift, and for the band members, it brings closure so they can face the challenges of the year ahead. The Jakarta Globe takes a look at four recently released albums from different genres.

1. Westlife: "Greatest Hits"

Dear Westlife fans, be strong, because this is it. “Greatest Hits” is the final release of the Irish boy band that first crooned its way into young girls’ hearts in 1998. The band announced it would split after its farewell tour in 2012. As part of that farewell, the band performed in Jakarta in October. While for some this may feel like the end of an era, others are probably just shrugging their shoulders.

This album is the band’s second compilation of greatest hits, following the 2002 release of “Unbreakable.” As a parting gift, Westlife provides four new songs on this last album: “Lighthouse,” “Beautiful World,” “Wide Open” and “Last Mile of the Way.”

Right off the bat, however, the order of the songs is a mistake, because we have to go through all the old stuff (“Swear It Again,” “My Love” ) before we finally get to listen to the new material. This is a shame because the new songs, which start at track 15, are quite charming, especially “Lighthouse” and “Beautiful World,” when listened to individually. But in the context of the album as a whole, they simply disappear.

Still, “Greatest Hits” is an appropriate goodbye. It couldn’t have been an easy decision to call it quits after more than a decade together, but as the band sings in the last track of the album, appropriately “Last Mile of the Way”: “It’s time to move on now so don’t be afraid/ We should remember the roles that we played/ Whether the future has dark or bright days/ I will still love you to the last mile of the way.”

Don’t cry, girls. Once the solo careers of the band members have failed to take off, Westlife will probably, as most boy bands do (see: New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, Take That), get back together again.

2. Il Divo: “Wicked Game”

Y ou can say what you want about Simon Cowell, but the man knows how to pick the members of a band and then lead them to success. Il Divo, created by Cowell in 2003, is very much like Westlife, only in a different music genre. A handful of good-looking men with acceptable to remarkable voices who cover songs of yesteryears and give them a new twist.

While Westlife has always delivered sugar-sweet pop tunes, Il Divo takes the “Three Tenors” approach to their music, officially labeled “operatic pop.”

It has worked, because even after several years, there is no group quite like Il Divo. While the band’s latest album “Wicked Game” isn’t as intoxicating as their self-titled debut, the four members understand how to work their image and how to appeal to the niche group that goes gaga over them.

“Wicked Game,” the title track, is the album’s strongest song. In fact, Il Divo’s rendition is almost more enjoyable than Chris Isaak’s original version from 1989. Other tracks include the equally famous “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” and “Time to Say Goodbye.”

If you’re planning a candlelight dinner with the object of your affection, nursing a broken heart, or taking a relaxing bubble bath, “Wicked Game” might be the right background music.

3. Manic Street Preachers: “National Treasures — The Complete Singles”

While some bands think they are eligible to release a greatest hits album after only three or four years in the music business, other acts wait 25 years. The Manic Street Preachers, the Welsh rock band that was formed in1986, has certainly collected more than enough material to compile such an album, and because they have been around for so long, “National Treasures — The Complete Singles” contains 38 songs over two discs.

In chronological order, we relive the band’s earliest days with “Motown Junk” and “Love’s Sweet Exile/Repeat,” and recall classics like “From Despair to Where.” We find ourselves humming along to the beautifully melancholic “Motorcycle Emptiness” and still know the words of “A Design for Life,” one of the band’s best well-known hits, that not only delivers a catchy melody but also thoughtful lyrics exploring class conflicts.

The second disc showcases the softer side to the band, with the songs “Autumnsong” and “Let Robeson Sing” standing out from the others. It also features one new song, “This Is the Day,” a guitar-laden cover version of the song by English band The The.

But most of all, this album is a testament to the journey of a great band, with all its ups and downs, that was able to stand the test of time. Any fan of rock music should have a copy of “National Treasures — The Complete Singles.”

4. Daughtry: “Break the Spell”

Even though it has only been a little more than five years since Chris Daughtry was an American Idol contestant (he came fourth), it feels like he’s traveled light years. Maybe it’s because he and his band Daughtry have established themselves as earnest rockers independently of the reality show.

Daughtry’s third studio album “Break the Spell,” however, does not contain any big surprises. Instead, Daughtry remains faithful to the formula that has proven successful in the past: an anthem-like chorus, a melodic hook, lyrics about failed and tragic relationships.

This is not necessarily a bad thing because Daughtry is pretty damn good at it. They have four Grammy nominations to back them up, and songs like “Crawling Back to You” and the title track “Break the Spell” are reminders of why the band has become so popular in the first place.

But the downside is that Daughtry simply seems to play it safe, and there is no noticeable innovation and no real substance to the band’s new release.

The album could use more tracks like “Losing My Mind” and “Rescue Me.” Even though both songs may sound softer than the rest of the album, they provide a great opportunity for Daughtry to show his powerful, emotionally-laden voice, and make use of his often neglected falsetto range.