The speaker is begging to be rescued from a place that feels cold, hard, and lifeless. The "iron city" is probably not a literal city so much as a way of life, one where people have become rigid and hollow. The houses are "empty," yet the speaker corrects that in the final lines: they are full of people, just "empty iron people." That twist suggests the emptiness is inside the residents, not in the buildings.
What drives the plea is fear of losing oneself. The speaker says what they are doesn't match what "they" want them to be, and worries that "the system" will slowly fade them until they join the others. The repeated "Take me away" sounds like a refrain of desperation, almost a prayer. The mood is anxious, bleak, and claustrophobic, with the heavy metal imagery making conformity feel cold and unbending. There is also urgency: the speaker hasn't been changed yet, but time is running out.