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.
Powerful, dramatic orchestral track with a sense of an imminent attack about to happen. Danger, conflict, tension, preparing to go to battle, not knowing what awaits. This film score style track has a cinematic, epic sound, great for action, adventure, thriller type productions. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 110 BPM]
Dark, evil, wicked, sinister, unnerving, cinematic, haunting, disturbed soundtrack to impending danger. Scary, edgy, bleak, ominous, doomy soundscape for use in horror / halloween / space / crime / murder type projects. [Tempo: Slow / 100 BPM]
A suspenseful and intense cue which creates an ominous, threatening and foreboding feeling. Distorted guitars, piano and electronic elements all come together to create a tense and apocalyptic sound. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 120 BPM]
Spacey, slow and slightly dark electronic piece. Trancey synth-piano lines are overlaid with more jagged synth and drum noises to produce an ethereal and yet quite emotive soundscape. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 60 BPM]
A dark and ominous underscore with ambient guitar sounds. Mysterious and with a feeling of unbearable heat, or a dark, damp place. Think Breaking Bad, Banshee or other modern western, or doom laden TV / Film music. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 90 BPM]
A brooding bassline fuses with a simmering wash of atmospheric sounds. [Tempo: Medium / 180 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with big pounding drums in various more and less intense patterns. Useful for sound design, film scoring, games and more. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 150 BPM]
A high-intensity, cinematic action track. Battle, chase, urgent situation, hunt. Big horns and staccato strings, with pounding orchestral drums and ominous chords. Dramatic / Fight / Marching / Escape / Chaos / War. [Tempo: Fast / 133 BPM]
Electronic percussion and eerie electric piano melodies generate an atmosphere of tension and suspense. The mystery thickens and new sound layers are added in a dramatic, hypnotic crescendo with a few stops, perfect for edit points. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 88 BPM]
An ominous sci-fi piece. Hybrid cinematic music, blending powerful analog synths with huge orchestral elements. Dark, majestic, brooding, suspenseful. Vangelis and Hans Zimmer influenced. [Tempo: Slow / 120 BPM]
This track combines strange noises with unusual, repeated, freaky piano melodies. This would work well as part of a freaky dream or nightmare sequence. It also could work quite well in the horror genre or during a haunting. Also quite perfect for Halloween and haunted houses. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
Modern rock tune featuring a bass guitar riff and sparse synths with a serious attitude. Dark and mysterious. This track almost has an eerie feel with an infectious groove. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 86 BPM]
A mysterious and pensive track with an uneasy, slightly psychedelic feel. Like classic murder mysteries or a sneaky scene in a classic horror type production. [Tempo: Slow / 100 BPM]
This track was made in electronic style with a slightly oriental atmosphere. Pulsating synth and arpeggiators, Arabian percussion, strings. Will work well as a main theme for the movie in action style about Middle East and Oriental countries. Tense, slightly pensive, dynamic. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
Action or Sports underscore. Epic and heroic, with a dark edge. Pound for Pound Best in the world. Track builds in waves to the finish. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with marching snares, military march. Occasional big drum strikes. Useful for scenes of battle, chase, urgency, action. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 100 BPM]
Dark ambient, Horror underscore. Mysterious / Creepy / Echoey / Haunting [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 80 BPM]
A darkly epic and menacing atmosphere built by low pitched cellos, distorted, mechanical drum beats, stabbing brass and spacious electronics. Conflict, chase, thriller, sci-fi. [Tempo: Fast / 150 BPM]
Energetic percussion opens the track, soon replaced with an epic, heroic melody performed by orchestra and choir. Music grows in intensity. Final section soars with high stings and climaxes with a patriotic, militaristic heroic melody. [Tempo: Medium / 140 BPM]
Atmospheric and orchestral score suggests big open spaces, great adventures, new frontiers to conquer. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 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]
This cue is a dark tension builder that is designed to set a suspenseful mood. It is reminiscent of eerie soundtracks such as Saw, Dexter, Silent Hill etc. It has paranormal overtones and peaks with a massive, intensely cinematic stinger. It would be well suited to horror, psychological thrillers and scenes requiring an unsettling suspense. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
Action-packed orchestral chase scene with traditional Arabic musical influences. Harmonic minor scale. Featuring dramatic strings and drums, with the occasional sting of the dulcimer. Perfect for a fight, race, or epic battle scene. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 118 BPM]
An epic dark medieval fantasy music with a unique ensemble of authentic medieval instruments and drums and hypnotic throat singing. This track captures a spirit of adventure and the fight to survive. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
Pensive, ominous orchestral film soundtrack. Secret mission, danger, impending hostilities, undercover or covert mission, military build-up, international conflict, serious consequences. The second half of the track has a much busier mood and more percussive production, and can be used for a separate cue, or as part of the main track. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 118 BPM]
Ominous and tense, semi-orchestral action or sci-fi track. Danger or evil forces. Also suitable as music for TV Reality Drama, crime, accidents, fire or other extreme danger. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 125 BPM]
Driving Score track with e-guitars, effects and heavy drum/percussion sounds. Edgy, menacing and aggressive. Good for action, pursuits and thrilling fight scenes. [Tempo: Slow / 120 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with big pounding drums in various more and less intense patterns. Useful for sound design, film scoring, games and more. [Tempo: Medium, Fast, Very fast / 150 BPM]
Intense, pulsating blockbuster track featuring synths and electronica combined with powerful, epic orchestral music. Suitable for scenes that need powerful background music. [Tempo: Medium / 95 BPM]
An orchestral, ambient piece with dark harmonies and a sense of ominous tension. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
A mysterious cloud of sounds made up of guitar effects and synths creates a sense of subtle uneasiness. About halfway in, the action intensifies with big drums ushering in a sense of urgency. The music later dissolves to the same sense of mystery it started with. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 95 BPM]
Tense / Bustling / Active / Urgent / Mystical / Pulsating Music. Small orchestra soundtrack piece, featuring live performed orchestral instruments, suitable as music for film and other media. [Tempo: Fast / 160 BPM]
A tension building track great for action and adventure scenes or reality game show programming. Features unique drum rhythms, a harmonic piano ostinato, synth motifs, and string riffs. [Tempo: Medium / 64 BPM]
Stalkers, serial killers, crime scenes, murder, twisted plots and Investigation Discovery shows. The chaotic and evil sounding prepared piano and sound design creates evil thoughts of Halloween, ghosts, cults and the supernatural. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 120 BPM]
This track is a frightening dark ambient music bed that is well suited for horror, thrillers, suspense, fantasy footage, as welll as video games. It has haunting overtones that make a nice tension builder. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
Somber and mysterious. An hypnotic and suspenseful piano with dark and shadowy strings. Great for suspense documentaries or crime scenes depiction. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 120 BPM]
A short film or television drama cue, suitable for crime thriller, mystery or an intense. Ticking rhythm, pensive movement, building to a crescendo. Perhaps a terrible realization or a gruesome discovery. [Tempo: Medium / 112 BPM]
This track has a haunted overtone and pays a subtle homage to the music 'Dexter' in the theme. This cue would work well for film or television, opening credits, paranormal footage and spooky movie trailers. It features detuned piano and haunting choirs that makes a nice ghostly tension builder. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 70 BPM]
A dynamic and evolving orchestral track. Full of twists and turns - darkness and danger turns to light and enchantment. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
Horror Mystery Soundtrack. Sickly / Underworld / Twisted Voices / Plague / Cold. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
Dark, gloomy, sinister underscore for film, TV, games, thriller, chiller, horror, etc. Darkly sparkling. Suspenseful, few notes, somewhat experimental, ambient soundscapes. [Tempo: Very slow, Medium, Fast / 122 BPM]
A swing jazz band playing on top of a bed of scary string tremolos and SFX. A pause at 1:42. Afterwards, brass instruments return with some crazy noodling. Unsettling, a bit psychedelic, perhaps losing grip on reality. [Tempo: Medium / 115 BPM]
Tense orchestral piece. Pulsing drums and strings, abrasive brass and drums, haunting textures and an overall suspenseful pursuit. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 98 BPM]
A dramatic tension track that opens with rhythmic and melodic synth lines and builds with light percussion, piano, strings, and brass motifs. Perfect for action and adventure scenes or reality game show programming. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 128 BPM]
Layers of synth, strings, and light, echoey vocals create a ghastly mood of foreboding in this ambient track, which ends suddenly and sharply with a shocking, big hit. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
An orchestral piece written for action and adventure sequences. It is full of drama, suspense, powerful drum hits, stabs, and melodic lines.
[Tempo: Medium, Fast / 130 BPM]Slow brush drums hitting softly with distorted long sounds and some scary sounds. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 60 BPM]
A dark and forceful cue, for dangerous and threatening situations. Pounding percussion gives this track a sense of urgency and stress. Dangerous / Critical / Fight. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 116 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]
The clock is ticking, it's the moment of truth! Great for any scene that needs to convey a sense of urgency, and tension. Orchestra and choir, builds to a big ending. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 830 BPM]
