Our selection of royalty-free cinematic music with an emphasis on tension, danger, nerve, and a sense of unease. Sometimes more subtle and sneaky music, other times more overt threatening music and soundtracks for critical situations, this music is made for action thrillers, police operations, stakeouts, spy / undercover agents, dangerous missions, hurricane-chasing and more.
Majestic and dark, this fantasy inspired passage canters towards wavering violins at 00:41. [Tempo: Very fast / 110 BPM]
A melody of spacious strings & soprano voice quickly descend into darkness & mystery. Fantasy, sci-fi, adventure. Perhaps magic or mysterious intrigues. Amazement, wonderment. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
Tensile, unearthly washes stretched over a deep sonic rumble. Ominous, discordant & menacing. Very uneasy, sneaky, mysterious, a little bit psychotic. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
A sense of impending doom builds from distant bells to sinister cellos, drums & a climax at 2:45. [Tempo: Slow / 85 BPM]
An intense electronic action track. with massive drums, synth sounds and drones, an action-packed thrill-ride track perfect for emphasizing your next movie project. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
A slow, pulsating, rather ominous and pensive rhythm sets the scene for a track that develops into an expansive, open aural vista. It has a sense of something important happening, something amazing approaching. It keeps growing into a glorious crescendo until finally all is revealed at the climax. A great track for when you want to build expectation and excitement towards the revealing moment. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
A sneaky and subtly pensive background / underscore track, suitable for mystery, discovery, exploration and for history / documentary etc. This is music that you don't really 'notice' as it doesn't stand out or grab the attention. It just stays in the background and provides a creepy, uneasy, mysterious atmosphere. Has a sense of dangers lurking nearby. The track is over 6 minutes long with no repetition at all, so it can be played in a loop for a long time without getting too repetitive. Can also be used for crime / criminal police / forensic investigation, puzzle solving etc. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
A cold, tense, lonely and mysterious sounding track with sparse synth pads, white noise and a kick drum that represents a heart beating. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 50 BPM]
Tense orchestral track that starts ominously, suggesting something evil is lurking then suddenly it grabs you. Powerful and bone chilling perfect for horror, nature documentaries and Jaws sound-alikes. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 67 BPM]
For sinister characters with murder on their minds or other scenes of darkness and danger this track fits the bill. Features percussion, harp, piano and various sfx. Perfect for TV dramas such as Dexter, Criminal Minds, CSI etc. [Tempo: Slow / 90 BPM]
A serene string introduction grows into a hybrid orchestra with asian instruments playing an energetic passage. A hypnotic electric guitar takes over and brings the music to a peaceful, uplifting ending. [Tempo: Medium / 124 BPM]
Light suspenseful tension track suitable for reality television results shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, to keep your audience anxious. Low brooding bass, morphing synths, emphatic strings, and escalating percussion all work to create an intense edge-of-your-seat atmosphere. [Tempo: Fast / 144 BPM]
This aggressive cinematic piece starts with a chaotic string crescendo, and abruptly changes to a dramatic and forceful orchestral texture. Great for action trailers and sequences. [Tempo: Fast / 143 BPM]
A mysterious cinematic thrill ride with tense edgy percussion, strings, harp, brass, pizzicato. Good for reality television, trailers, action, adventure, advertisements, and any production needing relentless heart pounding excitement. [Tempo: Fast / 121 BPM]
Dark, brooding, foreboding & cinematic rock track. A tense, dramatic intro leads to monster riffs and driven drum beats, powering forward with a great sense of sinister, evil energy. Would suit thriller/horror/halloween type projects. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 146 BPM]
Dark sinister & brooding soundscape that will have you locking all your doors & windows! Synth fx, horror percussion fx and ominous choir drones combine to make haunting, tense music suitable for horror / hallowen / ghost / thriller type projects. Don't look behind you!... [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 74 BPM]
Dark and ominous event, eerie sounds, threatening and edgy, sustains with aggressive internal percussive events. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 100 BPM]
Pulsing energetic percussive beat, dark and solemn , threatening, tense, and powerful, perfect for a war action scene. [Tempo: Medium / 83 BPM]
Staccato and nervous, orchestral tension underscore. Undercover, dangerous mission. Few French horns notes mixed with symphonic elements and a pulsating rhytmic backdrop. Movement, getting into position, primed and ready for action. Great for spy, mystery, thriller, crime, secret mission, military. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 97 BPM]
Dark, gloomy, sinister underscore for film, TV, games, thriller, chiller, horror, etc. Darkly sparkling. Suspenseful, few notes, somewhat experimental, ambient soundscapes. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 110 BPM]
A creature from beyond time and space appears, accompanied by massive, cinematic, trailer-style orchestra and choir! [Tempo: Fast / 151 BPM]
A weird and quirky track with ambient and tribal/ethnic influences. Slight jungle / tribe feel, mixed with cutting-edge, minimalistic urban and mechanical, even futuristic styles. A slapped bass groove, various textural and experimental sounds and swirley pads. [Tempo: Medium / 97 BPM]
This is a film soundtrack with an epic vibe. Orchestral arrangement with a lot of tension and energy. Ideal for war, battle and fight themed films with a brooding feel. Emotional and Heroic feelings that bring a lot of inspiration to the listener. [Tempo: Medium / 84 BPM]
Pensive, sinister, apprehensive, sneaking, waiting. Dramatic underscore that provides nerve and tension to film, crime, investigation, stakeout, horror or dark mystery. [Tempo: Medium / 105 BPM]
A percussion driven track, good for a military march scene. Note: This track starts *very* quietly and grows in a very slow crescendo. You will hardly hear anything until it starts to build up enough volume around 00:30 onwards. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 98 BPM]
This ambient music track features scattered sounds, signals and rhythms textures. Highly distinctive, unique and somewhat futuristic, perfect for horror, sci-fi or thriller. [Tempo: Slow / 96 BPM]
Adventurous orchestral percussion score takes you flying over vast landscapes. An orchestral underscore piece with a military styled theme. Serious, intense mood good for productions involving war, battles, plotting, planning, strategy, historical etc. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
Full percussion and orchestral score suggests big open spaces, great adventures, new frontiers to conquer. Main battle drums set in after about a minute. [Tempo: Medium / 97 BPM]
A wide, brooding cinematic soundscape featuring spacey pads, a rhythmic topline and deep, distant drum fills. Evoking images of distant horizons, infinite space or world changing natural events. Suggests documentary style programming covering ecology, science & technology, future cataclysmic events and large scale discoveries. [Tempo: Medium / 123 BPM]
Historical, Barry Lyndon type, civil war music. Would fit a 19th century war / historical feature. Classical war march genre of orchestration, using snare drum roll, piccolo flutes, clarinets, Bass drums, French and English horn. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 110 BPM]
Sneaky, slow, somewhat dark "spy funk" track with electro / dub influences and occasional lead guitar lines. Good for Crime in Progress, Spy / Agent, Secret Mission, undercover police operation, forensic investigations etc. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 130 BPM]
A mystical and amazing track featuring full orchestra, choir and a solo female voice with a very exotic, foreign, strange and alluring tone. Dramatic and intense, the orchestra sweeps and swoops, whilst the voice provides a strange and unusual quality; is she wailing in sorrow or spinning a web of intrigue and temptation? Also available without the vocals. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 160 BPM]
An orchestral track with a conflicting dark vs light approach. Very awe inspiring, regal / triumphant, but with a dark side. Perhaps the rise of an awesome army, a dark sorcerer or a hiding a terrible secret. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 0 BPM]
A nervous / ennerving and pensive orchestral track with epic percussion. A sense of danger and urgency. Good for reality TV / rescue mission, international conflict, armed conflict, military missions, action drama and more. Somewhat heroic / valiant feel. The good guys triumph! A full choir enters towards the end of the composition. This track is also available in an alternative version with an ethnic / exotic Monk voice singing a kind of gurgling vocalizing along with the music, giving the track a more ethnic / strange element. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 105 BPM]
A rhythmic, pensive, tense soundtrack based on orchestra and pounding, epic percussion. Good for rescue mission, military conflict / mission, grand adventures. Has a sense of something ethnic and foreign, but without being tied to a specific country or region. This track is also available with an additional Lead Vocal [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 97 BPM]
A mysterious and pensive, orchestral underscore for Fantasy, Adventure or Sci-fi. A mixture of awe, amazement, wonderment and nervous tension. What's lurking behind these walls? Great background material for Fantasy games, Adventure / Discovery, Historical and Epic stories. Can also work for some Epic Trailers. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
Mystery, intrigue and magic in this deep, tense / pensive fantasy underscore. Creepy, sneaky, underlying tension. Good for adventure, exploring, lurking danger. Use in fantasy games, sci-fi / horror film, mystery and suspense. Full orchestra; available with or without choir. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 100 BPM]
Dark and haunting Piano plays over some eerie and ambient sound effects. Creates the mood for tense and scary scenes in movies and halloween projects. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 58 BPM]
Eerie, tense, percussive soundscape with a relentless spooky melody, dark metalic FX and flute sweeps. Atmospheric with a sense of suspense and imminent danger. Menacing and sinister. 48 hours, The Mentalist, Castle, Alien Invasion, crime drama, horror, Sci-Fi. [Tempo: Medium / 100 BPM]
Deep bass lines and synths build a dark and intense atmosphere with a sense of suspense and drama. Good track for underscore dramatic situations. An amazing fusion of distorted guotar lines, percussion and strings. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 100 BPM]
A dark, cold and damp TV or film underscore cue. Pensive, unnerving and unsettling, this piece is suitable for a scene in a crime mystery, horror flick or perhaps a criminal documentary featuring evil or the occult, gruesome discoveries in forensics. Soundscapes. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 85 BPM]
Prepare to enter battle with this tense, epic, cinematic track. Starting with percussion and gradually building with brass, strings, snare drum and even some war cries. Good for movies, video games and tv dramas ranging from ancient times through to futuristic Star Wars type battle scenes. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 70 BPM]
A short track that tells of darkness and sadness. [Tempo: Medium / 90 BPM]
Use of Eastern percussion to bring across the clash of the titans on the battlefield, coming face to face with your adversary. Gearing for war, high impact, action, battle, fight, conquest, confrontation, combat. Recorder, shakers, dufflis, duff, dhol. [Tempo: Fast / 135 BPM]
Terrifying, thriller, Chase, chilly, nervous tension, sinister, threatening, creepy. Horns, strings, cello, drone, flute, pads, synths. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 0 BPM]
Dreamatic, slightly dark, cult music, eerie, sinister undertones, alternative. Electric guitar, rhythm, synth, strings, choir, horns. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 116 BPM]
A feeling of suspense and eerieness. Chase, suspense, urgent, uneasy, tension, anticipation. Sneaky tension. World percussion, strings, horns, synths. [Tempo: Medium / 83 BPM]
An upbeat action thriller track with a modern Filmcue vibe: Suspenseful pending build up. Rich in cinematic texture. Great for various cinematic use, ominous background, action suspense segments etc. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 120 BPM]
Tense combination of sound designer sounds with ambient synth textures and a hard hitting techno backdrop. action, drama, dramatic, chase, crime, police, battle, war, futuristic action and suspense. [Tempo: Fast, Very fast / 100 BPM]
A tense, pensive underscore for a dramatic scene with an Italian or Sicilian slant. Perhaps New York Mafia, historical drama, or a chase / battle / conflict scene set against a backdrop of Italy / Sicily or Eastern Europe / Traditional Europe. Mandolin and violin with battle percussion, orchestral strings and brass stabs. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 75 BPM]