With a cool Celtic-sounding soft intro, this song is reminiscent of 'The Clansman' in its very beginning. The main reproach that could be made to this song is that the chorus is very repetitive, although it does eventually seem to fit to the rest of the song. After a few listens, it seems obvious that the repetition of the words "no more lies" is an inherent part of the song and blends quite nicely with the rest. The instrumental section contains extremely good guitar solos, respectively by Dave, Adrian, and then Janick, and show an excellent use of the three-guitar attack. This piece ends softly, as it had started, and leaves the impression of yet another Maiden classic that will certainly become a concert favourite.
Darkening sky The lyrics deal with a character who knows that his time has come, with the darkening sky representing the beginning of the end (Steve Harris has mentioned that the lyrics quite match the story of the Last Supper in the Bible). However, this particular character seems to have lived his life to the full and does not express any regrets to leave this world. There is a hint as to the possibility of reincarnation ("Maybe I'll be back some other day"), as is customary in many Maiden songs that deal with death. The title of 'No More Lies' itself could have different interpretations. It could be that, when the end comes, there's no more time to lie about how we see our life. The illusions we had about our past simply vanish and we're confronted to the truth, no matter how much we tried to hide from it before. On the other hand, it could also represent the hope that, if there is a next life, it won't be filled with lies as the previous one was. Wipe the slate clean and start all over again, with truth and honesty "I'm coming back to try again". Even if there is such a thing as reincarnation or another life, it seems doubtful that truth will prevail then, as it never did before anyway.
As for all dying people, there is this crazy unfounded hope that things won't stop there ("don't tell me that this is the end"), and that our conciousness will go on forever. All we've experienced and the knowledge we've gained throughout our lives would otherwise go to waste, and we would be like some piece of electrical equipment that would have served its time just to be switched off one last time before ending up in a scrapyard. We all like to believe that this is not the case and that we can carry on indefinitely. No one knows for sure if this is the case, though...
