The Hope Slide's self-titled debut album, released September 28, 2010 on Submerged Records, is something of a concept album befitting the band’s chosen name. The songs deal with disasters and upheavals of all kinds, including the ill-fated Franklin Expedition ("Passage"), the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 ("In Ashe"), the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, and the impact of the Chernobyl disaster on the surrounding ecosystem ("Red Forest"). "In Ashe" was inspired by a landmark event in the history of workers’ rights, "Parish" confronts the U.S. government's failed response to Hurricane Katrina, and "Topple the Sky" deals with the 2009–2010 Iranian election protests.