Having previously recorded an album with his former band BLEEDING VULCANO, Hallur Ingólfsson formed XIII as a solo project, gaining a great deal of radio airplay in Iceland with the demo track 'Thirteen'. Teaming up with the Sigurdsson brothers (guitarist Eirikur and bassist Gudmunder) the trio wrote songs for the debut XIII album, 'Salt'. The album was recorded under very primitive circumstances in a warehouse, with the main hall used for recording and the kitchen was used as a control room. Due to restrictive finances, the album was recorded over the multitrack tapes of BLEEDING VULCANO's 'Damcrack'.

'Salt' was released in Iceland in 1994 by Spor records, and in Europe by Koch International in 1995. As 'Salt' turned into something of a successful proposition Ingólfsson formed a permanent band and promptly recorded a second album, 'Serpentyne' issued by Semaphore Records in September 1997. Third album 'Magnifico Nova' was released on the thirteenth week of 2002 by French label XIII Bis.