Album Review: Is Made in the AM a solid swan-song as 1D part ways?

One Direction: left to right, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. The boy band have said this is their last record before going on hiatus. Matt Sayles / Invision / AP

One Direction

Made in the AM

Syco

Four stars

Adele is shattering records previously thought unbreakable. Justin Bieber is back with his most mature (and critically acclaimed) record to date.

Somewhat lost in the pop shuffle is the much-anticipated fifth – and perhaps final – ­album from the most popular act of the last half-decade. But One Direction are not going out quietly.

The once-fivesome, now-foursome (absent is Zayn Malik, who quit this year) from the United Kingdom released Made in the AM during the same week that Bieber's Purpose arrived and shortly before Adele's 25.

The boy band had said this would be their last record before going on hiatus for the next year – prompting many to wonder whether it might be their last ever. Conventional wisdom would have predicted another eye-popping sales performance.

Made in the AM did indeed debut at No. 1 on the UK charts, but on the American chart, it was the first of their records to not hit that high, finishing behind Bieber at No. 2.

Nothing to sneeze at, but not exactly the best sign for the band's already uncertain future. Needless to say, though, the remaining members of 1D will be just fine, with the inevitable solo careers and acting gigs on the horizon.

As for ...AM, it is right up there among the group's best. If this is to be the 1D's swan song, it's a fitting farewell, and they leave behind a very solid pop legacy.

Any of the 13 tracks here (or 17, or 19, depending on which deluxe edition your kid made you buy) could cut it as singles, but the group has used Drag Me Down, Infinity and the now-ubiquitous Perfect to saturate the radio waves so far.

The best of the three singles is Perfect, an apt title for a song from a group so talented at creating pitch-perfect earworms. The tune is shiny and pretty, and a fine showcase for singer Harry Styles, the most likely of the four remaining members to reach broader pop fame.

Infinity is a run-of-the-mill power ballad that's pleasant enough. Less successful – maybe even downright forgettable – is Drag Me Down, a bland pass at a thumper that debuted in July and is the weakest track on the album.

Best of the rest is the fun, breezy love song ­Olivia, which is dripping with Paul ­McCartney influence.

If nothing else, no one can accuse 1D of resting on their laurels. How many bands release five albums in five years these days?

All told, it’s another solid addition to a very successful and prolific catalogue. Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson aren’t going anywhere, even if their collective moniker might be.