Steel on My Skin (version 2)

Intro

Rust breathes through the floorboard seam

Verse 1 – male vocal

Pipes cough steam like a man who won't sleep

Hands go up where the iron meets chest

Bodies bend to a frequency deep

Steel holds shape when we forget to rest

Pre-Chorus – spoken phrase, filtered chant, male voice

Iron remembers what flesh forgets

Ribs lock in before the kick drum hits

Chorus – sung, male voice, mid register, raw emotional shout

I feel the iron hold me still tonight

Steel on my skin keeps my heart from flight

Hands up high where the smoke machine bites

This is the only frame that feels right

Breathe with the beam until the sun comes up

Verse 2 – male vocal

Gears turn slow inside a wall of sound

Sweat drips silver down a stranger's face

Chest to chest against the concrete round

Pulse and pipe beat in the same four-count space

Pre-Chorus – spoken phrase, filtered chant, male voice

Iron remembers what flesh forgets

Ribs lock in before the kick drum hits

Chorus – sung, male voice, mid register, raw emotional shout

I feel the iron hold me still tonight

Steel on my skin keeps my heart from flight

Hands up high where the smoke machine bites

This is the only frame that feels right

Breathe with the beam until the sun comes up

Bridge – spoken phrase, filtered chant, male voice, lower register

Crown of pipe above a hundred chests

Every heartbeat turns a single key

Not the skin that holds but what it trusts

The beam don't bend till the last man leaves

Chorus – sung, male voice, mid register, raw emotional shout

I feel the iron hold me still tonight

Steel on my skin keeps my heart from flight

Hands up high where the smoke machine bites

This is the only frame that feels right

Breathe with the beam until the sun comes up

Outro – spoken phrase, filtered chant, male voice

Frame holds tight until the light finds a seam

Then it lets go and we keep the shape of steel