The Cranberries will retire after the release of their final album featuring the late frontwoman Dolores O'Riordan.

The Cranberries

The Cranberries

The 'Linger' hitmakers - Fergal Lawler and Noel Hogan - have confirmed they have finished their follow-up to 2017's 'Something Else' and teased it's "very strong lyrically".

Following the devastating loss of Dolores - who drowned to death due to accidental alcohol intoxication in January, aged just 46 - the Irish rockers will call time on their career in the group with the release of their eighth studio album, which is as-yet-untitled and yet to receive a release date.

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, lead guitarist and co-songwriter Noel said: "Lyrically, the new album is very strong. She always said she found it hard to write songs when she was happy.

"She always said: put a bit of misery in her life and it was easier. We will do this album and then that will be it. There is no need to continue."

Drummer Fergal also spoke of Dolores' battle with mental health and how it was only after she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016 that she revealed her "psychological" issues.

He said: "It was only the last few years that she started talking about psychological problems, because she didn't know herself.

"She saw a few different therapists and realised what she had and she started getting treatment for it."

Whilst Noel revealed that the 'Zombie' singer appeared to be well in herself during the last year of her life, but that she was suffering with live performances due to a painful slipped disc.

He said: "She was a lot more herself. Especially last year, when we were rehearsing: you wouldn't even know, because they had found the right cocktail of whatever it was she needed to be on.

"There wasn't even a case of having to 'work around it'. The hardest thing was her back, because playing live she could not move as freely as she used to."

The Cranberries formed in the early 90s and their first big hit single 'Linger' - taken from their debut LP 'Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?' - brought them to the attention of British, American and European audiences in 1993.

The band's second album 'No Need To Argue' was released in 1994 and became a global smash, containing the singles 'Zombie', 'I Can't Be With You' and 'Ode To My Family'.

The band followed that record up with five more albums with the most recent release being last year's 'Something Else'.

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