The group was created in 2010 in Hailar District of Inner Mongolia in China. The name of the group refers to the nine materials evoked in ancient Mongolian poems as favoring luck. The name was proposed by a former member of the group who currently plays in the group Hanggai; the group considers the name auspicious. In May 2012, the band released their first album 十丈 铜 嘴 at Mort Productions Beijing, an extreme metalrecord label created in 2001 and located in Shijingshan District, China. The album was reissued in 2015 under the title Arvan Ald Guulin Hunshoor for easy export. The reissue was done independently through Bandcamp.
International breakthrough
In August 2013, the group made a notable appearance at the Wacken Open Air festival where it won the Wacken Metal Battle in China and came second in the Wacken Metal Battle. In December of that year the group released their second work Nine Treasures under an independent label. During 2014 and 2015, the group spent most of their time on the road for an Asian tour, traveling north to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, south to Taiwan, and east to Vladivostok in Russia. In January 2015 they released their first EP titled Galloping White Horse, produced independently with 2 new songs and 3 live tracks. A few days later they released their first live album entitled Live in Beijing recorded from a concert in Beijing a few months before. This album contained the same live tracks as those included in the EP. In October of that year, the group was invited to WOMEX in Budapest and then went on tour in Europe for the first time, performing in the Czech Republic, Poland, Latvia,, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Austria. In July 2016, Nine Treasures completed their second tour in Europe, visiting Latvia, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Slovenia. In January 2017, the band released their third album titled Wisdom Eyes. It is distributed independently on the platform Bandcamp. The band went on tour in Europe between June and July through Austria, Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Bulgaria, and Hungary.
Music and lyrics
The group creates a fusion between heavy metal and traditional Mongolian music by introducing specific sounds related to the use of traditional instruments such as the morin khuur, the Russian balalaika, or the Jew's harp. Depending on the songs, the genre of the music can vary from folk to folk rock to folk metal and even punk according to reviewers. The lyrics of the songs evoke Mongolian nature, history, tales, legends and mythologies. The lyricist of the group, Askhan, also draws on family stories in some songs. According to Askhan, while the first album is quite raw with no frills, the following are more mature and better worked with sequences, transitions and integration of traditional instruments. The lyrics are written in Mongolian even when the titles are in English. The group also uses techniques of Mongolian throat singing.
