Tripper received moderately positive reviews upon release. On review aggregator Metacritic, Tripper holds a 72/100, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[4]
Pitchfork's Aaron Leitko gave Tripper a 6.0/10, saying that "On Tripper, Hella's instrumental chops are better than ever, but riffs aside, there's not much to think about."[5]Slant magazine was critical of Tripper, commenting that "there's a certain threshold for this kind of demanding material before it gets tiring. It's one that Tripper, staunchly dominated by an old-school style of wanky craftsmanship, crosses pretty quickly."[6] Other reviewers were more positive, with Magnet magazine stating that "(Tripper) is the most blistering set the duo have put out in a long time" and AbsolutePunk stating that "Tripper sounds like Hill and Seim naturally hashed some tunes out--just with some better years of experience behind them to reflect back on."[7]AllMusic's review reads "(Tripper) gives them a kind of spastic, jagged sound that puts them somewhere between Lightning Bolt and an actual bolt of lightning, and makes Tripper an album that's more likely to wear listeners out physically than mentally."[8]
^"Hella - Tripper". AbsolutePunk. 2012-07-16. Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2022-06-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
