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.
These dark horror cues can be classed either as "music cues" or "sound effects", as in reality they function as both. They are all recorded with a large, live symphony orchestra with the same quality as any soundtrack from big budget movies. The effects are easy to loop and edit, and can be tailored to fit any cue, as they can be used from virtually any point. Consider them a construction kit to score horror, mystery and dark drama. Recorded, mastered, and delivered to you in pristine 24-bit audio. Also look for YS Horror Cues 21-40 and YS Horror Cues 41-60. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow, Medium / 0 BPM]
Heavy foreboding percussion signals something big is coming. Deep brass drones and strings providing the tension. Distant choir add to the emotion of uneasiness. [Tempo: Slow / 100 BPM]
A dark, orchestral suspense track made with epic orchestra and drums. Ominous, foreboding. [Tempo: Slow / 100 BPM]
A pulsating synth and eerie melodies create a haunting, suspenseful atmosphere soon joined by synth bass and an electric guitar ostinato. Electronic and Acoustic drums and percussion help build a crescendo and reinforce the feeling of purposeful, unstoppable resolution. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
Dreamatic, slightly dark, cult music, eerie, sinister undertones, alternative. Electric guitar, rhythm, synth, strings, choir, horns. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 116 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]
Cinematic dramatic action track with deep and dark vibe and growing tension. Good for jungle and forest scenes, ambush in the battle, war and special military operations, spy films and videos. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
Suspicious / Foreboding cinematic soundtrack. Perhaps a crime in progress, or dangerous situation. Tense, with Tom-Tom drums adding to the nerve. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 104 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with marching snares, military march. Occasional big drum strikes. Pensive, Dark, Threatening, Tension. [Tempo: Slow / 117 BPM]
Useful for animation and short animated story. To show the character or main hero who looks out and trys to find enemies or bad guys lurking somewhere out. Mysterious and enigmatic, with percusive ethnic instruments, more agressive and dynamic in second part, preaparing for some kind of climax part which has will happen soon after... a battle or combat. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 88 BPM]
A cinematic, pensive track that starts with a fragile piano motif, and then grows, increases, builds… into a crescendo. Available with our without big drums. Suspenseful. Good for dramatic scenes, imminent danger, approaching situation. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
Mysterious and exciting score track with a modern sound featuring piano, synths and strings. Good for mystery, thriller and suspenseful action movies. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 115 BPM]
A dark, atmospheric track with an eerie and unnerving feel. Perfect for horror, Halloween, dark themed productions that need a foreboding, menacing and creepy soundtrack to create a nightmarish and unnerving tension and chilling atmosphere. [Tempo: Slow / 75 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]
A tense and dark trailer-style track led by orchestra and synths while featuring electronic drums and driven guitars at points. Epic and powerful, with a clock-like pulse. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
Mysterious electronic underscore, for moments of uncertainty and problem solving. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 85 BPM]
This piece is suitable for killer clowns, zombies, possessed dolls, etc. An eerie piece with a deep terrorizing bass line; highlights the squeaky nature of the Oboe and the sentimental vibrato of the trumpet to create an ironic atmosphere of horror with a slight comedic feel. [Tempo: Slow / 70 BPM]
Dark, edgy and dramatic electronic underscore, with big drums, orchestral horns, mechanical chimes and big drops. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 135 BPM]
Ambient, dark, slightly tense with low piano notes, light percussion, synth choir and fx. Good for eliminations on reality shows, tv and film dramas, crime, horrors, mysteries, thrillers and documentaries. [Tempo: Slow / 64 BPM]
A dark suspense piece with a haunting quality. Tension builds amidst huge drums and orchestra with an abnormal sense of determination. [Tempo: Medium / 143 BPM]
A dark and ominous fantasy / adventure soundtrack, dominated by dark and moody pad textures and a muted trumpet. This track starts out sneaky and foreboding, and grows over time, gradually building up the intensity towards a climax at the end. A combination of orchestral and modern sounds, the track is gloomy, eerie and majestic. [Tempo: Slow / 97 BPM]
An intense orchestral piece. Dark and ominous choral sounds combine with heavy brass, strings, and percussion to create a dark and nerve wracking overall vibe. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 82 BPM]
Short evolving epic track with tension building. A climate of danger, mystery, anxiety leading to the climax ending part. [Tempo: Slow / 66 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]
Cinematic Action music track great for crime and investigation programs, news, documentaries, also for films, TV series and action trailers evolving around Police, FBI and CIA. Featuring orchestral strings and woodwinds, synthesizers, keyboards and contemporary drum beat. [Tempo: Slow / 114 BPM]
A dramatic, driven piece. It starts with low strings and a driving drum beat. It grows into a powerful, epic conclusion, full of brassy horns and epic percussion. Perfect for a battle scene or an epic chase. (Stem files available.) [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
A simple underscore featuring a string ostinato that builds tension and suspense under a scene. A worldly flute melody provides a colorful, mysterious "crimes and investigation" type feeling. [Tempo: Medium / 110 BPM]
A somewhat dark, pensive and mysterious, neo-classical / film soundtrack styled piece. Elegant, but edgy. Dark stirrings / Malevolent / Grotesque. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 104 BPM]
Aggressive, mysterious, cinematic track with Middle Eastern/Arabic feel. Huge drums, rock guitars, atmospheric electronics and vocal chants. No guitars and vocals version available. There is also Underscore edit that omits the drums, bass, guitars and chants, leaving only background instruments. [Tempo: Medium / 160 BPM]
Percussion only track / Battle drums. Tracks with Drums only are useful for action sequences, fight scenes, war and battles, macho sports and exertion, powerful imagery, dramatic trailers and more. Also available as seamlessly looping Drum loops / Percussion loops. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 90 BPM]
An orchestral piece, a rather dark one. This composition builds up a tension and an uncomfortable feeling. It's thrilling and suspicious, this song makes a good suspense conductor without specially having any particular ending at the end, this could end well, or bad. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 89 BPM]
A broody, dark, cinematic track with a slight military / operation feel. Barely audible lo-fi telecommunications over dark beds of mangled and distorted synth pads and guitars. Undercover operation, military or space / sci-fi material. Sneaky, suspicious and ominous. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 75 BPM]
A mixture of electronic synths, percussion and strings are used to generate a sense of risk. The continuous pulsating guitar, heavy percussive hits, low piano notes and high string trills create an apprehensive mood, making this ideal for game shows with elimination rounds. [Tempo: Slow / 64 BPM]
Nervous soundtrack underscore for a classic western style duel. A mysterious lone ranger rides into town, will there be another shootout at the OK Corral? Interspersed with occasional mexican flavors. [Tempo: Slow / 70 BPM]
Disturbing and dramatic piece uses all new sounds and textures. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 112 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 haunting and eerie yet strangely beautiful track that starts out with a processed glockenspiel leading to electronic drums, bass, pads, tubular bells and various fx before ending with a soaring, passionate guitar solo. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 50 BPM]
A powerful mix of syncopated synths, dramatic, fast accented strings and breakdown beats. Ideal for reality TV cues when firing contestants as well as other dramatic cues such as Celebrity Apprentice, Survivor and Hell's Kitchen. Mob hits and urban chase scenes with bad guys on the move. [Tempo: Medium / 130 BPM]
These dark horror cues can be classed either as "music cues" or "sound effects", as in reality they function as both. They are all recorded with a large, live symphony orchestra with the same quality as any soundtrack from big budget movies. The effects are easy to loop and edit, and can be tailored to fit any cue, as they can be used from virtually any point. Consider them a construction kit to score horror, mystery and dark drama. Recorded, mastered, and delivered to you in pristine 24-bit audio. Also look for YS Horror Cues 01-20 and YS Horror Cues 41-60. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow, Medium / 0 BPM]
A mandolin and strings powered look into a dark and dirty world. The space created by the atmospheric music is reminiscent of films like Babel and Syriana. Tortured flute amplifies the tension; whatever is about to happen can't be good! [Tempo: Slow / 135 BPM]
Dark and cinematic cue with a reflective beginning and builds to a tense and emotional climax. Starting with simple piano before strings and horns slowly creep in. Great for movies and documentaries. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 120 BPM]
Pulsating sound design track with subtle but nervous percussion. Expectant, foreboding and slightly menacing. Good for use in thriller, action / adventure, sci-fi and sci-tek, future warfare, technology or suspense / action. Tense. Starts to build in intensity from 2:00 onwards and reaches a climax / crescendo at 02:55. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 115 BPM]
Medium slow, intensely powerfully epic, spacey, grinder rock track. Has a dark & menacing atmosphere built by heavy guitars mixing with massive drum grooves & spacious synth textures. Would suit extreme sports / horror / action / thriller projects. Potent stuff. [Tempo: Slow / 106 BPM]
Predators are closing in, tension builds, an attempted escape, a chase. This is an fully orchestral cinematic score of underlying horror and suspense that builds up. Key of D, 120 bpm. [Tempo: Slow / 57 BPM]
Cool and ethereal electro rock track with a slightly sinister undertone. Spacey plucked santoors float over soft and spacey synth pads and noises as a slow, determined beat kicks in. Would suit dramatic or cinematic projects. [Tempo: Slow / 59 BPM]
Pensive, percussive track with World / Ethnic undertones. Good for adventure, peril, expeditions and mystery. Travel show, documentary / history / geography / mythology etc. World heritage, with an element of danger and nerve. [Tempo: Medium / 110 BPM]
A dark, somewhat gloomy, mystery soundtrack. Perhaps crime, criminals, crime investigation. Dystopian, with a sense of activity and danger. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 138 BPM]
Inspired by classic role playing video games, the noble orchestra of this piece creates a heroic mood as its sets the stage for dark challenges in a dangerous dungeon. [Tempo: Slow / 65 BPM]
A reality TV type tension track featuring bells, synths, and percussion. Builds throughout for a sense of forward motion while maintaining intensity. Think of any reality TV series where elimination rounds are involved. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 84 BPM]
Begins with a hypnotic synth bass hook and drum hook. As electric piano comes in, it slowly builds and eventually flowers into a lovely mellow pop chorus. Once the beat gets to you, it is mesmerizing. [Tempo: Medium / 160 BPM]
