Hedmark’s Deer Cross The River Bridges Nature and Nostalgia Through Post-Black Metal

With Deer Cross The River, Hedmark, Norway’s one-man project led by Gunnar Kjellsby, delivers a song that feels less like a track and more like a moment in time a memory unfolding in the frosted fields and landscape of Flisa. Hesmark takes atmospheric black metal, adds post-rock textures, and adds the haze of shoegaze to create a song that is atmospheric and hauntingly cinematic. Yet, at its core, the song is human and based on sincere stories from winter in Hedmark County.

The track starts in chilling stillness, envisioning deer crossing an icy river. Layered guitars wash over the listener like cold winds with heavy snow, steadily building into a wall of sound that is equally aggressive as it is melancholic. 

Vocals, shared between Kjellsby, Melina Oz, and Embla Maria O’Cadiz Gustad, emerge in and out of the instrumentation like ghosts, being both harsh at times and ethereal at others, while also resonating with the brutality and vulnerability of nature.

Deer Cross The River distinguishes itself by its ability to illustrate tension between beauty and desolation. The song does not romanticize its themes. It presents them contemplatively through survival, memory, and the unforgiving Northern landscapes that personify them. The track is found on Hedmark’s debut self-titled album (released October 9, 2025), and it’s a very intentional statement of atmospheric metal that does not just tell a story, but lives the story.