Orgil: Bass, Backing Vocals
Saina: Balalaika, Backing Vocals, Guitars
Namra: Drums
Nars: Morin Khuur, Backing Vocals
With Searching for the Absolute, 9 Treasures‘ first album for Steel Blade, the alt-metal lineup is worked up to ship their first globally launched album, Searching for the Absolute. Shaped by vocalist/guitarist Askhan Avagchuud in 2010 within the autonomous area of Interior Mongolia in China, 9 Treasures are a singular mixture of metallic and conventional Mongolian instrumentation, using each standard vocals and Mongolian throat singing. Guitars, bass, and drums collide with indigenous string devices, together with the balalaika and the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle). Briefly, pentatonic jap music combined with heavy metallic. The consequence? A sonic kaleidoscope that follows no set template.
“On Searching for the Absolute, we tried to seize the issues that actually excite us deep inside, these unforgettable moments when your thoughts swings huge open to infinite potentialities,” says Askhan. “You open a brand-new realm for your self, unfamiliar, but extremely thrilling. On the similar time, it’s like an infinite puzzle, and to finish it, you additionally want calm reflection and meticulous evaluation. That’s why we glance upon it as ‘Searching for the Absolute.’“
The singer/guitarist grew up listening to the Huge 4, nu metallic and European bands like In Flames and Youngsters of Bodom. Askhan was cautious to make 9 Treasures‘ melding of genres an natural factor. “It’s not so simple as simply placing a guitar chord behind some Mongolian melodies,” he explains. “Our music is a lot deeper than that. We work to make sure the 2 distinct aspects of our sound complement each other. I’ve modified the best way I play the guitar to accommodate the Mongolian components, and vice-versa. To do that takes loads of evaluation and experimentation.”
9 Treasures transfer simply from a straight-up headbanging type to the extra atmospheric progressive type on Searching for the Absolute. Guitar-wise, Askhan makes use of loads of Mongolian enjoying methods and songwriting logic into his enjoying and is worked up for the “contemporary blood” it provides to the band’s sound. The quintet’s diverse approaches and common messaging will enable them to tour with any musically progressive band, be it Amon Amarth or TOOL.
The primary single from Searching for the Absolute is “Actual Dream,” a music written whereas the band was in Los Angeles. “Actual Dream” marked a turning level for 9 Treasures. “It felt like getting into a brand new dimension. By way of this music, we rediscovered our confidence and broke by means of an extended artistic bottleneck,” says Askhan. “It really felt like a rebirth. We explored each doable construction, piecing collectively the right association by means of countless trial and error. In the long run, we bought precisely what we had envisioned-it was all value it.“
“Till Now” was one other breakthrough second in writing for Searching for the Absolute. “One morning, whereas enjoying the tovshuur [Mongolian plucked musical instrument] I stumbled upon a sliding riff that simply clicked,” Askhan remembers. “We stored refining it many times till it turned the ultimate model. Halfway by means of, the monitor breaks right into a stream-of-consciousness improvisation, wild and free. Each time we carry out it, it looks like using a wave that simply retains rising and rolling. We get utterly misplaced in it-and we find it irresistible.”
The title monitor absolutely embraces the spirit of Jap enjoying techniques-”particularly glissando, again and again again-which is why the music’s working title was merely ‘Slide.’ By that point, our artistic course of had develop into utterly free,” Askhan says. “We now not cared about guidelines or boundaries-we simply adopted our instincts and poured every little thing out. The twin solo within the center, between the morin khuur and the slide guitar, is certainly one of my favourite moments-two devices, two textures, enjoying the very same notes. It’s an ideal fusion.”
The band takes its identify from a gaggle of objects referenced in historical Mongolian poems, and in music, lyrics and visuals, 9 Treasures contact on the mythology and fairy tales of their homeland. However the band’s songs include extra common references, too, explains Askhan, a working towards Buddhist. “Lyrically, ‘Searching for the Absolute’ is a music about holding onto religion and searching for the last word reality of the universe. That’s one thing I’ve personally been striving for in current years-so in some ways, this music is a message to myself. A type of self-encouragement. However I additionally hope it may possibly convey energy to others, too.”
Following 9 Treasures‘ 2024 signing to Steel Blade, the label re-released the 12-song compilation album Awakening from Dukkha in addition to 2017′s Knowledge Eyes. 9 Treasures play 100-plus pageant exhibits and headlining gigs per yr in Asia to audiences of as much as 80,000. With three acclaimed albums main as much as Searching for the Absolute, thousands and thousands of streams, and festivals together with Wacken Open Air, Woodstock Poland and extra, 9 Treasures are completely poised to seize The Americas, Europe and onward.
Achievements up to now have been famous by the press worldwide, with publications together with The Quietus providing rave critiques: “There are not any compromises on sonic assault for the good thing about the historically acoustic devices. Tracks borrow gleefully from a variety of metallic methods, taking the tuneful riffs of melodic metallic, the momentum of hardcore and the knack for complexity from progressive types, utilizing these in tangent with throat singing methods to hammer residence the vocal hooks, that are sprinkled liberally.“
9 Treasures are trying ahead to the October 24, 2025 launch of Searching for the Absolute, wanting to unfold their distinctive sound and positivity worldwide. “Our new music matches with our historical past but in addition provides the viewers extra surprises due to tons of latest components that we added. Our message is easy,” Askhan concludes. “We simply need everybody to be completely satisfied and luxuriate in themselves at our exhibits. We wish 9 Treasures to convey some constructive vitality into the world – the best factor we will do with that is to assist individuals.”