Location: Beijing
Country: China
Genre: Progressive metal
Full length: Seeking the Absolute
Format: Digital, CD, 180g black vinyl (EU), orange/red/black vinyl melt (EU, 200 copies), red galaxy vinyl (US, 300 copies)
Label: Metal Blade
Release date: October 24, 2025
Nine Treasures, a shining example of breaking down barriers between genres and cultures, have put a lot of effort into establishing themselves. They’ve performed widely, released singles and full-length albums on a regular basis (including the 2015 live album "Live in Beijing"), and developed a fan base from the ground up. This month, they will release their first US outing. When signing them, Metal Blade took a risk, but the label has always taken chances that paid off, and I have a feeling something special in the works.
I’ve made references to Sam Dunn's "Global Metal" on several occasions in this webzine. He examines the metal industries in several nations throughout the world in this documentary. Dunn reveals how bands based in China, particularly Ritual Day, were drawn to their own brand of metal, closely observing their native music.
Another China-based musician, Askhan, founded Nine Treasures in 2010 with a vision that took what bands had started years before and carried it to its logical extreme. The result was ground breaking albums like "Nine Treasures," "Wisdom Eyes," "Awakening from Dukkha," and the band's most recent, "Seeking the Absolute."
Nine Treasures, whose sound incorporates the balalaika and the horsehead fiddle, (also called the morin khuur), strive to eliminate boundaries between metal, thrash, prog, grunge, and indigenous folk music. Askhan goes a step further by adding throat singing to aggressive vocals. The band challenges our notions about how metal should be composed, demonstrating that folk and metal transcend cultural and national barriers, each influence adding to the vitality of the other.
According to Askhan, the inspiration for "Seeking the Absolute" stems from epiphanies about the options available for innovative musical composition. It draws inspiration from catching those moments, grasping them, and discovering uncharted territory you hadn’t suspected was there, clinging to the thrill and excitement accompanying this epiphany. This new path can occasionally feel like a huge riddle that requires careful thought and investigation to solve. For the listener, the journey he and Nine Treasures discovered is worthwhile.
The album makes it clear it’s not your usual folk metal recording, prominently referencing the logic and technique of traditional Chinese music. It enters a world very different from what we think of as metal. The material is greatly guided by the folk aspects, which provide opportunities to delve into Chinese poetry, mythology, fairy tales, and fables. This also offers chances to explore the depth and profundity of Chinese mysticism; it is made even more captivating by the fact that all of the lyrics are composed and performed in their original tongue.
I frequently perceive some resemblances to traditional Celtic music, which emphasizes how music is essentially global and can transcend all genres, even metal. While guided by the folk aspects, the metal, prog, and grunge elements do more than simply follow. They animate and shine as more than just a counterpoint when given the space to develop in their own unique manner. They can go in new and distinct directions since the folk inspiration and heavier elements become a part of each other, blending together to form a single organism.
The content is further colored by varied ambient passages emerging from this union, and melodic vocals interacting with aggressive vocals. All of this cooperates to produce a pagan tapestry touching you with something inexplicably primordial and beautiful. Something you wouldn’t have expected but something you imagined was always there, waiting to become one with your unconscious. "Seeking the Absolute" is a transcendent album that has to be fully experienced, mind and soul. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Askhan: Guitars, vocals, balalaika, tovshuur
Orgil: Bass, backing vocals
Saina: Balalaika, backing vocals, guitars
Nars: Morin khuur, backing vocals
Namra: Drums
Track list:
1. Until Now
2. Indecision
3. Yellow-Black Storm
4. Steel Falcon
5. Real Dream
6. The Ultimate Evolution
7. Just Like You
8. Lonely Old Horse
9. Seeking the Absolute
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