Music Industry News

Earth Tongue lower the castle gates with their third album Dungeon Vision, capturing the pair at the height of their powers. Built from an intense recording window, Dungeon Vision captures Earth Tongue operating with clarity and restraint, letting riffs, rhythm and atmosphere do the heavy lifting.

Earth Tongue wrote the album’s twelve tracks in Berlin, where they are now based. Rehearsing through winter in what they describe as a “windowless cave” of a practice space, with the cold pressing in outside, the duo found the ideal conditions to shape the album before travelling to Los Angeles to record at Altamira Sound.

Produced by fuzz obsessor and garage rock hero Ty Segall, Dungeon Vision captures the band at full force – fuzz-drenched guitars, bone-battering drums and melodic vocals locked in tight formation. “The whole thing happened really fast once we landed in LA,” says Ezra. The album was driven by the band’s momentum and Segall’s instinctive approach.

With no click tracks or computers, every track was recorded live to tape, with Segall selecting takes based on feel rather than technical precision. It’s a deliberate departure from modern studio gloss. “It’s the same way they made albums in 1970,” Ezra adds. The result carries a palpable urgency, sweat, adrenaline and instinct embedded in the performances pushing Earth Tongue into new creative territory while preserving the kinetic intensity of their sound.

Alongside Dungeon Vision’s release is also the music video for latest single ‘Orbit of a Witch’. Gussie explains “We received a curious message from the NZ Stage and Screen Combat School, which we quickly learned is a medieval mecca – and in Birkenhead no less. They’d heard we were into dungeons and came bearing an offer: Would we be interested in using their dungeon services in any way? Of course we jumped at the chance, and before we knew it we were donning chainmail and swinging swords like true LARPers. Turns out chainmail is heavy, believe it or not, so we recruited head honcho Alexander to play the knight in the video, while Liv Tennet shimmied her way through the medieval disco”

Earth Tongue are set to play their record on the road for the first time, starting tonight at the Turner Centre in Kerikeri before shows in Auckland, Hamilton, Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington.

Anyone who’s been to an Earth Tongue show knows their mind-expanding power. Since moving to Europe, the band focussed on playing live, performing to new crowds. “We’re doubling down on what we were already doing” says Gussie. “Being able to play so much has given us a lot more confidence. Seeing the response from new audiences has been really reassuring – that we can keep it unique and weird”. Dungeon Vision bottles the magic of those live shows, a product of two-person alchemy honed over many hours. Tickets for their New Zealand tour are on sale now at earthtongue.co.nz

Dungeon Vision follows 2024’s Great Haunting, which earned Earth Tongue the 2025 Aotearoa Music Award for Best Group and a Taite Music Prize nomination. Dungeon Vision takes that momentum and offers a focused, urgent and fully realised snapshot of the band’s sound. With its combination of raw energy, expanded texture and cinematic imagination, the record solidifies Earth Tongue as one of New Zealand’s most vital and internationally compelling psych-rock acts.

Check out all things Earth Tongue below:
Linktree
Facebook
Instagram

Photo Credit: Rob Burrowes