Askhan: Guitars, Vocals, Tovshuur
Orgil: Bass, Backing Vocals
Saina: Balalaika, Backing Vocals, Guitars
Namra: Drums
Nars: Morin Khuur, Backing Vocals
With Seeking the Absolute, Nine Treasures' first album for Metal Blade, the alt-metal lineup is excited to deliver their first globally released album, Seeking the Absolute. Formed by vocalist/guitarist Askhan Avagchuud in 2010 in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia in China, Nine Treasures are a unique combination of metal and traditional Mongolian instrumentation, utilizing both conventional vocals and Mongolian throat singing. Guitars, bass, and drums collide with indigenous string instruments, including the balalaika and the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle). In short, pentatonic eastern music mixed with heavy metal. The result? A sonic kaleidoscope that follows no set template.
"On Seeking the Absolute, we tried to capture the things that truly excite us deep inside, those unforgettable moments when your mind swings wide open to infinite possibilities," says Askhan. "You open a brand-new realm for yourself, unfamiliar, yet incredibly thrilling. At the same time, it's like an enormous puzzle, and to complete it, you also need calm reflection and meticulous analysis. That's why we look upon it as 'Seeking the Absolute.'"
The singer/guitarist grew up listening to the Big Four, nu metal and European bands like In Flames and Children of Bodom. Askhan was careful to make Nine Treasures' melding of genres an organic thing. "It's not as simple as just putting a guitar chord behind some Mongolian melodies," he explains. "Our music is so much deeper than that. We work to ensure the two distinct facets of our sound complement one another. I've changed the way I play the guitar to accommodate the Mongolian elements, and vice-versa. To do this takes a lot of analysis and experimentation."
Nine Treasures move easily from a straight-up headbanging style to the more atmospheric progressive style on Seeking the Absolute. Guitar-wise, Askhan uses a lot of Mongolian playing techniques and songwriting logic into his playing and is excited for the "fresh blood" it adds to the band's sound. The quintet's varied approaches and universal messaging will allow them to tour with any musically progressive band, be it Amon Amarth or TOOL.
The first single from Seeking the Absolute is "Real Dream," a song written while the band was in Los Angeles. "Real Dream" marked a turning point for Nine Treasures. "It felt like stepping into a new dimension. Through this song, we rediscovered our confidence and broke through a long creative bottleneck," says Askhan. "It truly felt like a rebirth. We explored every possible structure, piecing together the perfect arrangement through endless trial and error. In the end, we got exactly what we had envisioned-it was all worth it."
"Until Now" was another breakthrough moment in writing for Seeking the Absolute. "One morning, while playing the tovshuur [Mongolian plucked musical instrument] I stumbled upon a sliding riff that just clicked," Askhan recalls. "We kept refining it again and again until it became the final version. Midway through, the track breaks into a stream-of-consciousness improvisation, wild and free. Every time we perform it, it feels like riding a wave that just keeps rising and rolling. We get completely lost in it-and we love it."
The title track fully embraces the spirit of Eastern playing techniques-"especially glissando, over and over again-which is why the song's working title was simply 'Slide.' By that time, our creative process had become completely free," Askhan says. "We no longer cared about rules or boundaries-we just followed our instincts and poured everything out. The dual solo in the middle, between the morin khuur and the slide guitar, is one of my favorite moments-two instruments, two textures, playing the exact same notes. It's a perfect fusion."
The band takes its name from a group of objects referenced in ancient Mongolian poems, and in music, lyrics and visuals, Nine Treasures touch on the mythology and fairy tales of their homeland. But the band's songs contain more universal references, too, explains Askhan, a practicing Buddhist. "Lyrically, 'Seeking the Absolute' is a song about holding onto faith and seeking the ultimate truth of the universe. That's something I've personally been striving for in recent years-so in many ways, this song is a message to myself. A kind of self-encouragement. But I also hope it can bring strength to others, too."
Following Nine Treasures' 2024 signing to Metal Blade, the label re-released the 12-song compilation album Awakening from Dukkha as well as 2017's Wisdom Eyes. Nine Treasures play 100-plus festival shows and headlining gigs per year in Asia to audiences of up to 80,000. With three acclaimed albums leading up to Seeking the Absolute, millions of streams, and festivals including Wacken Open Air, Woodstock Poland and more, Nine Treasures are perfectly poised to capture The Americas, Europe and onward.
Achievements to date have been noted by the press worldwide, with publications including The Quietus offering rave reviews: "There are no compromises on sonic assault for the benefit of the traditionally acoustic instruments. Tracks borrow gleefully from a range of metal techniques, taking the tuneful riffs of melodic metal, the momentum of hardcore and the knack for complexity from progressive styles, using these in tangent with throat singing techniques to hammer home the vocal hooks, which are sprinkled liberally."
Nine Treasures are looking forward to the October 24, 2025 release of Seeking the Absolute, eager to spread their distinctive sound and positivity worldwide. "Our new music fits with our history but also gives the audience more surprises thanks to tons of new elements that we added. Our message is simple," Askhan concludes. "We just want everyone to be happy and enjoy themselves at our shows. We want Nine Treasures to bring some positive energy into the world - the greatest thing we can do with this is to help people."
