Hella - Tripper

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3...according to our Dave on Wed 14 Sep, 2011.

Hella return with their token brand of hi jinks..."Tripper" is its name and it's the usual from these Sacramentonians(?) which is a damn sight more than possibly a million other bands you might care to mention. Call them what you like, free metal, math rock, speed country(?), you cant deny the power of this two piece. They dabbled in the full band sound for a bit, a five piece actually, but have stripped back their numbers and are a twosie again. Who knows why, creative differences? Not enough underpants to go round? Inner-band rivalry? Who knows or dares to dream. I'll tell you what though, the Hella guys have developed a way more layered sonic battering ram than on previous records. And occasionally the results are stunning. The level of musicianship that these guys play at is one more than 11. This is a record that is like being spin kicked by 500 ninjas, all at once and sometimes at different times, in a war zone. There's explosions of riffery here, and A-bombs of sonic assault there. It's a breathless affair that will delight some and annoy/confuse/repel others. My favourite tracks are the ones that don't sound like the Chipmunks running through a dub mixer, but the ones that have weird synthy elements against the drum/guitar sorcery. A return to form and a must for Hella fans.

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Hella has long been celebrated for bringing a rigorous and artful musical complexity to the punk aesthetic. Now, after a four year hiatus, the legendary Sacramento duo founded in 2001 by drummer Zach Hill and guitarist Spencer Seim has returned with their fifth album, Tripper. As the title suggests, it's a wild ride that finds Hella in classic frenetic anthemic form. The sonic experimentalists have stripped the band lineup back down to the original 2-piece, returning to the streamlined aggression of their earlier work while expanding the barriers of their sound. Tripper is Hella's most "focused" album to date -- and, by focused, we mean in a kaleidoscopic way. While each of the multiple riffs and movements of every song have a clearly defined mood and feel, the way that Hill and Seim breeze between time signatures and parts is like watching the scenery unfold within a kaleidoscope. It's entrancing in its beauty and beguiling in its complexity. First new album in 4 years. Hella has sold over 50,000 albums in the US to date. Early support from Stereogum, The Wire, Rockarolla, Pitchfork, Alarm, Impose, Vice and much more. Fan made viral videos for lead track "Headless" are circulating now.