Metal Shock Finland Chief Editor, Mohsen Fayazi and Senior Manager Alison Booth have joined together in partnership with their respective other areas of work: Stargazer Consultancy and Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem. Stargazer was set up to be a useful guidance in the rock and metal music industry. Some of the services on offer include custom artist biography and press release writing, designing and licence negotiation. Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem is a weekly rock and metal show on UK radio station TotalRock.
Introducing:
Mohsen “Stargazer” Fayazi
He then started working with renowned Middle Eastern metal webzine Jorzine in 2010 and began conducting the first of many interviews to come.
In 2011, Mohsen was invited by Metal Shock Finland President Tarja Virmakari to join the team. He was soon a major contributor in creating the well respected rock and metal news source that the online magazine is today and became Chief Editor.
During this time, Mohsen has forged strong relationships with record labels such as Nuclear Blast, Century Media and many more. A plethora of interviews have taken place over the years, with esteemed artists including Wolf Hoffmann (ACCEPT), Michael Weikath, Markus Grosskopf (HELLOWEEN), Jon Schaffer (ICED EARTH), Arjen Anthony Lucassen (AYREON) and Steve DiGiorgio (DEATH, CONTROL DENIED, TESTAMENT and more). Many thought provoking reviews and articles have been written.
Another area of work is designing high quality banners, posters and logos, some examples are all the headers and logos seen on the Metal Shock Finland website and social media. Posters have also been designed for metal legends ACCEPT, notably for Sweden Rock Festival in 2013, along with being official Ambassador for the band in Iran, as well as doing promotional work.
Mohsen has worked for two Iranian death metal bands in the role of agent and manager. He has been instrumental in spreading their names worldwide, as well as securing a record contract.
Mohsen created the specialist sister magazine to Metal Shock Finland, a quarterly production by the name of Metal Shock Times.
The magazine has focused on aspects of the music industry, reports, reviews and interviews.
Alison Booth (AKA Blackdiamond)
Alison’s career in the industry has been built over the last five years, starting in 2011 by initially joining Metal Shock Finland as an Author. This consisted of writing daily news articles, reviewing new albums and interviewing artists, then progressing to becoming Senior Manager and also Utilifests Project Manager; arranging partnerships with rock and metal festivals worldwide. Festivals supported include Wildfire, Metal Crowd, Brutal Assault and Devilstone.
In 2012 she joined the long running excellent English radio station TotalRock, presenting a weekly two hour show, Blackdiamond’s Metal Mayhem amongst a team of stellar DJ’s. Featuring bands worldwide, many guest artists have appeared for a chat on the show including Michael Schenker, Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth (OVERKILL), Andi Deris (HELLOWEEN), Nigel Glockler (SAXON) and Glenn Hughes. As well as big named bands, Alison also supports new bands and frequently features their material on the show.
Alison also has built solid relationships with record companies, promoting their band’s music through her radio show and with press releases, reviews and interviews on Metal Shock Finland. She is an experienced writer, having had reviews published in AOR magazine.
