Nine Treasures And The Mongolian Metal Revolution

After first encountering Nine Treasures in 2017 at the 330 Metal Music Festival in Beijing, China, we boldly claimed that “Mongolian Folk Metal is the future.” With Mongolian legends The Hu having already taken the Metal world by storm, we are more than ready for Nine Treasures to takeover the Mongolian Metal revolution and ensure that we do not have to fork out on a plane ticket to Asia to see them live again. 

Nine Treasures – Awakening From Dukkha (Metal Blade Records)

Release Date: 10 January 2025

Words: Lucy Dunnet

In the meantime, to satisfy our love for the Chinese Mongolian Alt-Metal heroes, they re-released their 12-song compilation album Awakening From Dukkha as well as 2017’s Wisdom Eyes, and have promised an epic new record will drop later this year. 

The as-yet-untitled 2025 LP will be a huge step for the band, as frontman, Askhan Avagchuud, explains, “This new album is different from any of our past releases. We added so much detail and changed the way we write music. Now we are singing on the riff and got rid of the chord progression,” he observes. “We’ve always been inspired by heavy American and European bands. America and Europe are very important for us to tour and hopefully create new fans of our music and meet all our longtime fans.”

Awakening From Dukkha is an all-killer album of tracks that display the finely forged weaponry with which Nine Treasure will take on the global stage: “pentatonic Eastern music mixed with Heavy Metal.” Their unique combination of Heavy Metal with traditional Mongolian instrumentation and conventional vocals with Mongolian throat singing results in “a sonic kaleidoscope that follows no set template.” 

Album opener Black Heart begins with raging Hardcore energy; the high-tempo drums are quickly joined by the balalaika and morin khuur. It is love at first sound when we hear Askhan’s coarse vocals, and we are treated to one hell of an energetic, pit-calling track.

After that magnificent Mongolian Metal slap in the face, the next few tracks slow the pace – but only a little. Arvan Ald Guulin Honshoor’s intro is one of our favourites: the 45-second instrument-by-instrument buildup provides more satisfaction than a Matryoshka Doll’s smooth re-building. Nine Treasures have created such powerfully bouncy music that by the time Nomin Dalai and Tes River’s Hymn come on, we find ourselves not headbanging but headswinging. 

The Dream About Ancient City is so beautifully composed that you don’t need words to hear the story of the Ancient City. The strings are the narrator, and the rest of the band are the props and actors. Nine Treasures’ power transcends the ability to mix Heavy Metal and Eastern music; their music can transport you to historical, fantastical, and overseas places. 

Praise For Fine Horses has us praising every member of the band. Two minutes and twenty seconds in, a Mongolian breakdown of instrumental complexity, eargasmic twangs, and slides crescendo down our spines. 

The End Of The World takes the top spot on the catchy hook leaderboard, not only because it brings back magical memories of cheeky crowd surfing in China. The song structure is more traditional Metal than others on the album, with a bouncy instrumental intro, a slower-paced verse full of under-the-surface energy ready to explode when the chorus kicks in, and a breakdown that includes a kickass scream “YAHHHH” from Askhan. 

Don’t mind us; we are just off to take some Mongolian lessons so that we can shout out the lyrics with the devout passion they deserve. 

Another insanely epic hook comes with Wisdom Eyes. Wherever you are, be it on the morning rush hour train or queueing at the doctor’s, we dare you to try NOT tapping your foot to Wisdom Eyes. The ever so slightly creepy, ever so slightly addictive Three Years Old Warrior finishes off Nine Treasures re-released Awakening From Dukkha, a compilation album that has left us salivating for more. 

Askhan, a practicing Buddhist, wants the music of Nine Treasures to comfort and ease the suffering of others. “We want Nine Treasures to bring some positive energy into the world—the greatest thing we can do with this is to help people.” It only takes one hit, one album, one record deal to bring change, and we can already see the positive magic of Nine Treasures seeping across the seas.  

Awakening from Dukkha (first out in 2021, compilation album) track listing:

Band members:
Askhan Avagchuud – guitars, vocals, balalaika, tovshuur
Orgil – bass, backing vocals
Saina – balalaika, backing vocals, guitars
Namra – drums
Nars – morin khuur, backing vocals

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