Ray Dorsey isn't an average Metalhead, he is a living testament to the genre which many devoted their lives to. Involved since the very beginning (he heard BLACK SABBATH's debut not long after its release) he utilized many of his talents for promotion of the music and beyond and kept interest in it ever since. The knowledge of scene and music itself helped him to get involved in some bigger things like writing liner notes for a re-release of Budgie's debut for the American market in the early 90's, but it was the publishing of fanzine called (Enlightened) Chaos that cemented his deserving place in history of heavy metal at large. The zine was very open-minded reading from the get-go and it is truly something outstanding in the world of otherwise naturally outstanding mellieu of people who were rough and ready for praising sonic excellence. The very first issue of fanzine came out (under a different name, though) in 1983! The interview contains some incredible information, so don't hesitate to read it.

Ray, you seem to be around the scenes for a very long time. When has it all started for you? How did you get into hard rock / heavy metal stuff? A couple things stand out for me on this. 1) I remember watching VANILLA FUDGE do “Shotgun,” I think it was, on the Ed Sullivan TV show in the late 60’s. I’d never seen nor heard anything like it. Wasn’t sure what I even thought of it, but my dad’s horrified reaction made me think “this is something to be checked out.”  2) In school, in 7th grade, we were able to bring records in to art class and play them while we worked. People brought in things like the first ZEPPELIN and it was an eye-opener. When someone brought in the 1st SABBATH album shortly after it came out, they wouldn’t even let them play it. To me, that said “Buy this now!”.. When have you discovered your passion for NWOBHM? In real time, as it developed from its early years or later on in the process? It was definitely in real time. I was 22 years old in 1979 so I was well into music. Records like the first METAL FOR MUTHAS comp, the first IRON MAIDEN, DIAMOND HEAD & ANGEL WITCH plus all those old 7” I got as they were released. (n.: Wow! We need to know more people of this category). "...my dad’s horrified reaction made me think “this is something to be checked out.”" Were you already interested in writing about music around that time as well and were then fledglings like Lester Bangs an influence? Yeah, I’d been writing music reviews since my high school newspaper. Sure, I liked all those guys like Lester. I used to read Creem & Circus mags voraciously when I was young. My main influences for doing a zine though were Ron Quintana (Metal Mania SF) and the late Bob Muldowney (Kick Ass Monthly) (n. Both of which are featured heavily in the Read All About It"-section of THE CORROSEUM). How long had the zine lasted? What happened afterwards? The printed zine went from 1983 to 1997, I think it was. After that I did a blog online for awhile and then just eventually went to what I do now, the occasional review on FB. The zine through which we at Corroseum became aware of you, is entitled »Enlightened Chaos«. In the beginning it was just »Chaos«, but it later became »enlightened«. When and how had this transition occured? Actually, issue #1 was called METAL MAELSTRÖM. After that, it was CHAOS for awhile, then ENLIGHTENED CHAOS, then CHAOS REALM. Just had fun with the name. By the time of issue #22 the zine editorial seemed to be experiencing a strong surge of interest in the 70's and 60's. How had that happened? I always had an interest in 60’s and 70’s rock, before metal came along. In fact, most of my favorite music is from the 70’s. Always has been. Have you ever experienced any negativity towards those older bands that you featured in the zine? We are asking that as much of the music from that earlier era was somewhat dismissed, or at least undervalued, by many in that time period. No, not really. I don’t remember any negativity toward the older stuff I wrote about. Were those older bands surprised (maybe even confused or suspicious?) that there was still interest in their music then, as not many publications were reaching out to them at that time? Yeah, some of the ones I contacted were pretty pleased that someone was interested. I’d say that was the general reaction:  a kind of humble thanks they had. To a one, they were always very gracious and generally pleased. What was covered in those issues that we are still missing? There were hundreds of bands covered, I don’t have any list. In fact, this may surprise you but I only have copies of a couple issues myself. I’d had one of each, but I lost them in a black mold issue at my old house several years ago. I’ve found a couple issues recently but only a couple. I would like to have a full set, just for posterity sake, but as they say, “whatcha gonna do?” Were there more »thematic« issues like "22" or the Mercyful Fate issue? More surprises, more unusual bands, musicians? There was a PENTAGRAM issue and one that had a big retrospective on 70’s stuff and another that had a big section on prog-metal. I especially raised my eyebrows when I saw the inclusion of Doc Rockit or »Doc Rock It«, as it is probably properly written. This may be the only time that they were covered anywhere. Have you managed to score a Doc Rock It debut? I dare not even think about scoring it. I had some kind of bootleg version of it at one time when I still had my vinyl collection. It wasn’t very expensive, as I recall. "I’ve never really been one to care that much about the “collector’s value” of anything, just the musical value. My copy of BLACK SABBATH - Vol 4 was always as important to me as my copy of SLAUTER XSTROYES." How about the rest of the wantlist from issue 22? How big was or is your collection? I sold my vinyl collection in around 2005 for the purposes of buying a business. Didn’t really bother me much as I had mostly all of it burned to CD at that point. I’ve never really been one to care that much about the “collector’s value” of anything, just the musical value. My copy of BLACK SABBATH - Vol 4 was always as important to me as my copy of SLAUTER XSTROYES. I eventually had accumulated several thousand CD’s. Then a family issue caused this to go down to maybe 100. Now it’s back up to several hundred max. I slowly accumulate new things and some old things again. One burning question I'm always dying to get answered by old prolific 'zine editors is, what happened to all the hundreds of obscure/local demo tapes, zines and private releases that you must have accumulated through the years? Still in boxes in the attic or lost-in-transit? (This Q also stems from The Corroseum and its co-operators' mission to unearth lost 80's Metal history - "Preservation by way of digitization and distribution"). Most of it is long gone after various house moves, etc. I have a handful of old zines. My music collection is now several hundred CD’s, the stuff I listen to most from the past and newer stuff. You were preceding The Corroseum, for instance, for almost 20 years, and our contemporary interest in 70's underground hard rock for more than 30. I am really interested in how this came about and out so, do you remember how you got into this early collectors' circle and how everything looked out back then? I was into 70’s rock when it was actually going on. I bought albums by bands like ARMAGEDDON, MOXY etc when they came out. I’m 65 now so I was in my 20’s then and living in the moment. So it wasn’t a case of getting into something from the past, it was what was going on then. A lot of the stuff became collectors items later along the line. You just had to dig for the stuff through record stores back then. There wasn’t really a zine network or certainly no internet. BLACK HOLE are a huge band in the "backwaters" of the Corroseum. For comparison, Paul Chain is huge also, but not sooooo huge. How have you become aware of them? Were you sent a tape by the band or you acquired it another way? As I was very much involved in the collecting & vinyl scene as well as the underground metal & music scene specifically back in the day. PAUL CHAIN & BLACK HOLE were both fairly well-known by people involved in those scenes back then.  Part of the team of the '22' were the guys who at the same time were the owners of or affiliated with King Classic Records (co-releasing SOLITUDE AETURNUS at the time), who later established Monster Records and today's Rockadrome. Please, tell us about these connections. I first came into contact with Phil & Dennis from King Klassic Records by way of their fanzine Midwest Militia (n.: Issue no.1can be found within The Corroseum vaults as well). This was way back in the 80’s. I bought a copy of it, as I recall because they focused on a lot of the more 70’s-inspired metal bands, which I liked. I stayed in contact with them over the years, due to their knowledge of bands like WINTERHAWK, SLAUTER XSTROYES, SORCERY (Sinister Soldiers band) etc. They were a continuous fountain of knowledge, especially of rare 70’s & early 80’s stuff.  My best memory of them was in around 1991 when they were still in Illinois. My friend (and another major hard rock/metal collector) Mike Maddox bought an original SORCERY “Sinister Soldiers” from them. He was afraid to have it sent thru the mail so we (Mike, my ex-wife & I) drove from Baltimore to Illinois to get it from them. While we were there we got to see their entire collection plus they took us to meet Paul Kratky of SLAUTER XSTROYES and we got to go see a jam with Jordan Macarus and other people associated with WINTERHAWK. Amazing stuff.  Of course some time after that, Phil & Dennis would move to Texas & form Monster/Rare Ass Records. Phil would tragically die and Dennis would continue on with Rockadrome to this day.  Budgie's debut liner notes, how did this come to be? Within the metal underground at the time, I was pretty friendly with Monte Conner of Roadrunner Records. He knew of my interest in the 70’s stuff and approached me about doing the liner notes. I was delighted & actually paid to write them. I’d have done it for free!
Are Mercyful Fate (still) huge at your headquarters? What is your opinion of their re-apperance in the 90's?  I love MF and pretty much everything they did & everything related:  KING DIAMOND, THE BRATS, ZOSER MEZ, GUTRIX, all the Shermann/Denner stuff. I love the live shows they’ve done lately and the one new song “…Salzburg.”  I think they’re fine with Mike Wead.  Yeah, it would be cool if Denner was in it, but he’s not & that’s ok by me too. Looking forward greatly to the new KING DIAMOND & MF albums, whenever they come out.  How do you feel about the interest of other, newish bands to take inspiration from them (or ape them in some cases)? Bands have influenced other bands forever. There are a million bands that sound like BLACK SABBATH these days, some good, some not so much.  The fan of Enlightened Chaos does not seem to be an »average« heavy metal fan. Who were your "subscribers"? There were a variety of people from around the globe. As you say, there wasn’t a particular style of person drawn to it except to say that most readers were those with open minds, as I covered things as far afield as punk, jazz fusion etc. Whatever I liked went in. If anyone didn’t like a certain band or style, they could simply chose not to read it. The ones who did, though, hopefully learned something as did I. What about your presence as a musician, apparently you are guitar »aficionado« as well? I got a guitar at 13 yrs old and acquired a few after that (still have 3…although I do need a new practice amp). I had a band for a period in my 20’s. We were called HAND RAILS (after a lyric on one of my songs about a serial killer who lived in a parking garage). We played a handful of gigs at the on-campus tavern at Loyola College in Baltimore where I’d gone to school. I don’t believe we made much of an impression but it was fun. It was what I would probably call psychedelic metal as the songs were usually riff-based and heavy but contained long, jamming instrumental passages.  If you would be forced to choose between hard rock/heavy metal and progressive rock, which side would you take? None. No sides. I like all of those and other kinds of music as well. I’ll go from listening to VENOM to JOHN SCOFIELD to BÖC to GENTLE GIANT. None is worthy of more regard than the other. All great stuff.
"One thing that I find both fascinating and irksome about the “underground metal scene” is the seeming aspect of “superiority,” ...
that it’s some secret club that only certain people are allowed to join or be in etc. It’s ludicrous & high-handed."What do you listen to these days? Do you nod to the "New Wave of Old School Metal ", that is, bands founded by youngsters, millennials even, who want to play as the bands of yore did? Apparently they have the right, too. See the last question.  And yes, people have the right to play whatever they want. Everyone is influenced by things from the past that they’ve heard & enjoy. Tony Iommi, Count Basie, John Palumbo, Hank Shermann, etc. They all have/had influences & have drawn upon them. One thing that I find both fascinating and irksome about the “underground metal scene” is the seeming aspect of “superiority,” that they or “TRUE METAAAAAL” or whatever the fuck it is, is better than anything else or that it’s some secret club that only certain people are allowed to join or be in etc. It’s ludicrous & high-handed. Music, from the past or present is there for everyone to enjoy. A large part of the reason I did the magazine was NOT to establish or maintain some secret club for only certain members, but to get the word of good music out to all of those who may not have heard it.  From all the demos, private releases and more obscure stuff you received through the fanzine in the 80's, which ones do you consider being the most underrated and unsung today? Care to give us a Top-3 of bands from this era that you think the world forgot? LORD - “Second Coming,” POLESTAR - Flying Thru The Universe, C.I.A. - “Top Secret”. In Enlightened Chaos #20 (1991) there is a mention of you having started to work on a "History of Metal"-type book. I take it it was never released, but did it transform into something else? Whatever happened to this project? Nah, I just never went in that direction. Still haven’t given up on the idea though. Through the years, many bands have released many releases, of whose the first ones we have heard were to our liking, and the next ones were ranging from minor to bitter disappointments.  How do you look upon these kinds of developments, both in the past and nowadays? All bands & their histories are different. Certainly, all bands debut albums are not their best. Sometimes they are, hell, sometimes the debut ends up being the band’s only album, so it becomes their best by default. Other times a band progresses over time and are able to do things only hinted at by their debut. Sometimes bands make comebacks in their old age and you wish they’d never done it. Other times, like UFO, a band goes thru changes and ends up aging with dignity, like they did with Vinnie Moore. Or like BANG, who have just released what may be their best album!