Toronto-based post-grunge/nu-metal band Chain Strikers return with their second single, “Rust”, released on April 4, 2025. While still technically a standalone single, “Rust” marks another step toward the band’s future full-length, digging deeper into the psychological and spiritual themes introduced on their debut, “Try To Cage Me.”
Where the first single was about fighting against the chains that hold you down, “Rust” feels like the moment after the struggle – when you realize you might be trapped inside a prison you can’t just walk out of.
From Inside the Cell
“Rust” opens slowly and atmospherically, as if the listener is waking up inside the cell.
A spacious, moody guitar solo sets the tone, giving the sense of someone pacing in circles, staring at the same four walls day after day. As the track progresses, the tension builds and the song turns more aggressive and unhinged, mirroring the feeling of slowly losing your mind in confinement – not just physically, but inside your own head.
Lyrically, the song paints a picture of a place soaked in suffering:
“The tears that were shed on this place
Stain these walls and every day
I choke in the agony of when I
Think about giving up”
Rather than describing a literal jail, “Rust” explores a more symbolic and ethereal kind of imprisonment – being trapped in your own body, your own psychology, and the knowledge that one day everything decays. Our bodies rust. Our surroundings rust. Time turns everything into something old and fragile.
The meaning is intentionally open: listeners can connect it to mental health, toxic situations, regret, guilt, or mortality. “Rust” doesn’t offer a simple explanation or easy way out – it just sits with that uncomfortable truth.
Losing Your Mind, One Thought at a Time
As the track unfolds, the calm of the intro gradually gives way to something more unstable. The music grows heavier and more intense, echoing the repetition and obsession in the lyrics:
“I think I’m losing my mind
I think I’m losing my mind…”
What starts as resignation turns into a spiral. The riffs hit harder, the drums feel more urgent, and the song begins to sound like the internal monologue of someone who has accepted their fate – but can’t stop replaying it in their head.
If “Try To Cage Me” was about resisting the chains, “Rust” is about what happens after you’ve been there long enough to feel them cutting into your skin.
Crafted in Winter, at Home
Just like the debut single, “Rust” was recorded at home in Toronto during the cold winter of 2024/2025.
- Written and produced by: Marcelo Barreto
- Mixed by: Abel Delgado – you can find more of his work on Instagram at @abeldelgado.av
The track shares the same DNA as “Try To Cage Me,” but takes the sound in a darker, more suffocating direction. Influences range from Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots to Avenged Sevenfold and Linkin Park, blending 90s-influenced grit with modern heaviness and atmosphere.
One of the most striking moments in “Rust” comes right before the solo. What initially sounds like a siren warning of an impending breakdown is actually just a guitar:
A series of slides up to the higher register of the instrument were processed until they started to resemble an alarm, blurring the line between organic performance and something more mechanical and unsettling. It becomes a signal that something inside the song – and the narrator – is about to snap.
The Visual Prison of “Rust”
The artwork for “Rust” is as important to the story as the music itself.
Against a black background, harsh red bars stretch upward and outward, like the inside of a cell extending into infinity. Shadows and claw-like shapes lurk between the lines, while a lone black crow stands on the floor, a silent witness to everything that has happened in that room.
The cover feels like a reflection of our own prison – the place we carry around with us in our mind and body. The long shadows and stark contrast give the impression of someone being led down a corridor, on the way to the gallows, fully aware of where this path ends.
It’s thematically connected to “Try To Cage Me”:
if the first single was about fighting the cage, “Rust” is about the moment when the character stops struggling and stares straight ahead, accepting the weight of their fate.
A Darker Chapter for Chain Strikers
With “Rust”, Chain Strikers continue to shape the world of their upcoming album – a place where spiritual questions, inner battles, and the fear of decay all collide.
The song stands on its own as a single, but it also feels like a second chapter in an unfolding narrative:
- “Try To Cage Me” – the fight against the chains.
- “Rust” – the realization that some cages live inside you.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in your own head, haunted by the passing of time, or weighed down by something you can’t fully name, “Rust” is made for that moment.
More music is on the way as Chain Strikers continue building toward their debut album. Until then, let “Rust” echo in the back of your mind – and see what it brings to the surface.