Cold iron in the blood, strike the flint (Version 2)

Intro

Cold iron in the blood, strike the flint.

(Strike)

Two beats of air, chest plate clearing out.

Let the draft blow.

(Blow)

Verse

Four a.m. basement, thirty-gauge wire

Bellows in the ribcage feeding on the fire (fire)

Numb from the knuckle to the tendon in the wrist

Spent two winters with my fingers in a fist

Hunting for a pulse like a needle in the dark

Now I bet the whole collarbone on a spark

Hammer hit the tungsten, ringing out the rust

Grit on the tongue, turning mercury to dust (dust)

Piston at the redline, oxygen is thin

Sweat freezing solid on the contour of my chin

Told me keep it safe, keep the copper in the ground

I would rather lose the bet than never hear the sound

Anvil vibrating right against my hip bone

Forty miles an hour through the catacomb of stone (stone)

Took my own breath, put it on the scale

Watch the iron redden underneath the fingernail

Chorus

Heavy on the neck, put the hammer to the glow (glow)

Bet it on the forge when the subterranean blow

I don't wanna freeze, let the furnace take the cost (cost)

Nothing feels alive till the safety line is lost

Heavy on the neck, put the hammer to the glow (glow)

Bet it on the forge when the subterranean blow

Verse

Sulfur on the floorboards, embers in the tread

Tired of the shelter, hungry for the red (red)

Tired of the silence, tired of the shade

Testing out the heat on the belly of the blade

Steam hit the rafters, sixty pounds of pressure

Used to measure pain like a hollow kind of treasure

Now the spark jumping from the metal to the sleeve

Gotta crack the ribs if you really wanna breathe (breathe)

Sparks in the pupil, iris getting wide

Count eight cylinders rattling inside

Thermal shock running from the collar to the shoe

Burn the dead timber just to pull the living through

No more sleeping under blankets of the frost

Count up every chip that the wager ever cost (cost)

Tongs in the grip and the temper running wild

Strike three times till the iron is reconciled

Chorus

Heavy on the neck, put the hammer to the glow (glow)

Bet it on the forge when the subterranean blow

I don't wanna freeze, let the furnace take the cost (cost)

Nothing feels alive till the safety line is lost

Heavy on the neck, put the hammer to the glow (glow)

Bet it on the forge when the subterranean blow

Bridge

Smoke cleared out, air hanging thin

Found where the living and the burning begin

No gold tooth, no crown on the skull

Just the raw current where the nerve was dull

Neck on the block, didn't flinch one drop

When the sub hits hard and the bellows don't stop (stop)

Feel the heat climbing through the soles of my shoes

Nothing left to lose when you break the freeze loose

Outro

Strike on the iron.

(Strike)

Let the wager settle.

(Settle)

Cold blood boiling in the center of the metal.

Hammer down.

(Down)