Kevin Sirois

When Kevin Sirois was 12 years old, he wanted to play guitar like Slash. Months later, he heard Rust In Peace for the first time and wanted to play leads like Marty Friedman and rhythm like Dave Mustaine. He thought old school Metallica was cool too, but pretty much gave up any and all guitar god aspirations when he found out the pummeling riffing in “Battery” was completely down-picked (seriously, James Hetfield?).

Kevin’s love of '80s and early '90s thrash as a teenager living in the early 2000s soon morphed into a love for Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, Unearth and the rest of the “New Wave of American Heavy Metal”…or “crappy Gothenburg-ripoffs” and “cookie monster vocal bands” as snarky metal forum elitists might spew.

Then came Mastodon’s Leviathan, The Sounds of the Underground Tour 2005 DVD, Dillinger Escape Plan, Botch, sludge, Pig Destroyer, Converge, Entombed, death metal. Basically, he loves heavy music in all of its weird, challenging, nasty and beautiful forms.

Though not completely metal-related, he is certain that Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak is the perfect album.

Kevin has written for numerous publications, ranging from a London-based punk music magazine to a business journal headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut. His music writing has appeared in Big Cheese Magazine, Performer Magazine, Nefarious Realm, and the now-defunct Playground Boston, both online and in print. He works full-time as a book editor at a publishing company in Connecticut, and can frequently be seen wearing a hoodie around the office.

Kevin earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Boston University in 2009.

The other day my girlfriend went outside to start my car, heard all of this “weird noise” upon turning the key over, and immediately thought there was something wrong with my engine. Turns out she’s not a fan of “Spheres of Madness” by Decapitated.

In addition to metal, I have an unhealthy obsession with Arsenal Football Club, Taco Bell baja beef chalupas, anything on the Investigation Discovery channel, the Men in Blazers podcast, chicken wings and beer, Twitter, and this thing I do where I stare into space while playing around with my beard.

Please feel free to visit my rarely updated blog and/or follow me on Twitter at @kevinsirois where I frequently tweet poetic (read: complain and type in all caps) about Arsenal every game day on Saturday and Sunday mornings.