How did the “Heartagram” logo, so heavily associated with the band, come to be?
PLAY DEAD: Ville Valo (center front), Finnish frontman for His Infernal Majesty, seems to be as goofy as he is scary. THE mythology surrounding the guy is every bit as imposing as Vlad the Impaler’s. Gaunt and pale, Finnish rocker Ville Valo has — in his 10-year career fronting HIM (His Infernal Majesty) — become not only a bona fide European superstar, but a new creepy hero for the Goth-pop set. The rep is well deserved. He’s got the Edward Gorey-ish lyrical imagery going, as on melodic dirges from his latest “Dark Light” disc for Sire: “Play Dead,” “Vampire Heart,” “Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly.” He even has his own logo — an inverted, round-topped pentagram dubbed the Heartagram — that appears on just about any item Hot Topic is currently carrying, and also in tattoo form on the skin of his more devoted followers. When you’re ushered into the man’s smoky backstage lair, he offers an appropriate caveat: “We’re a Goth band, more or less, so be careful! We’re super-miserable and su
