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.
A neoclassical and cinematic drama piece created for strings with orchestra. This track builds up gradually and has a sense of impending doom. Approaching danger. Turmoil building up. Raw chamber strings hammer away relentlessly into the storm, on a backdrop of edgy and dark orchestral sounds, with a ticking clock, as if to warm that time is running out. Also available without the ticking clock effect. (Stem files available.) [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 100 BPM]
A hybrid orchestral track with a sense of evil and malevolence. Grows and increases throughout. Builds up to a climax around 01:35 and ends with some heavy pounding and a return to the original horror mystery piano motif. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 65 BPM]
A very dark film soundtrack underscore cue featuring bowed metals, drones and a subdued percussion section with a tribal feel. A few well placed spanish guitar tones adds a sense of drama and emotion. Great for thriller, crime mystery, documentary, urgent situation. [Tempo: Slow / 108 BPM]
Is this business as usual or a front for an illegal operation? Suspenseful underscore, featuring odd-meter orchestral/electronic rhythmic vamp which gives the feeling of a working process, but at the same time of mischief, something not-quite-right. Good for mystery films and documentaries on crime. Key of D, 104 bpm. [Tempo: Slow / 103 BPM]
A distant, eerie sound that grows from a low, brooding drone to a climactic scream of controlled distortion. Mixes include versions with or without an added layer of metallic, fragmented sounds. Matched in style with the Dream Valley Music titles, The Deep Dark, Black Light and Bloom. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
A strange and unsettling semi-orchestral film underscore. Nervous and uncertain, swirling and clangy. Suitable for a very tense and pensive moment in a dark drama, horror, crime thriller or documentary. Carries a sense of hidden evil or a disturbing truth. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 120 BPM]
This chamber orchestra track has a balance of story-telling and cinematic drama capabilities and can be used in a wide range of media. A beautiful piano arpeggio melody to accompany this track and the soft and sudden piercing stabs and leads with the violin to really bring the most emotion and enjoyment of this beautiful melody and emotional track. Edgy, raw, close, live strings production. (Stem files available.) [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 65 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: Very slow, Slow / 53 BPM]
A dramatic, cinematic, orchestral piece of amazement and heroism. This piece gradually builds up from an ominous, dark beginning, increasing into a crescendo towards the end. [Tempo: Slow / 74 BPM]
Tense and pulsating orchestral atmosphere growing in intensity to big finish. Evolving / Majestic / Soaring music track. [Tempo: Medium / 224 BPM]
Rhythmic pulsing orchestral music track with a scientific and anticipation aura. Curious and epic music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 140 BPM]
A disturbing and horrific piece of music for use with horror, fright, terror and tension. Available in various different versions / mixes / lengths. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 150 BPM]
Inspired by 1980's sci-fi and horror films, revived today by TV series about things that are strange. An ominous blend of synthesizers and orchestral tones, with a repetitive, tense motif. Tension / Suspense / Dark Music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 84 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]
A fast paced action packed cue which creates a dark, cinematic and suspenseful mood. Threatening and pounding drums mixed with electronic elements along with booming brass, creating a huge cinematic sound. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 115 BPM]
A minimalistic and sparse ambient music track with a repeating bass figure over kalimba and subtle percussion. Light tension, time passing, observation. Useful as illustrative background music for TV, film and other media. [Tempo: Medium / 95 BPM]
A twisted, dark and discordant waltz opens this dynamic epic track of courage and determination that also shows a sad and tragic emotional side. Voices create a medieval undertone. The track finishes with dark orchestral stabs and hangs on a barely resolved violin phrase. Good for dark battle, epic defeat. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 0 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with marching snares, military march. Occasional big drum strikes. Useful as music for scenes of war, war preparation, battle preparations, etc. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
A darkly ambient, threatening and unnerving underscore. Suitable for tense and pensive drama scenes, reality show, documentary, dangerous situations, nervous undertow. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 103 BPM]
A staccato, ominous, aggressive march, perhaps portaying battle ready hordes going off to war. Fantasy and adventure, medieval or historical, conquering forces. [Tempo: Slow / 56 BPM]
Weird underscore soundscape for thriller, dark drama, crime scene investigation or documentary. Hints of screeching metals, deep thuds and strange twisted melodies from a dark place. A disturbing sound montage like a hidden evil or searching for clues to a gruesome discovery. Great for film, TV or in-game use. [Tempo: Medium / 83 BPM]
A bone chilling, minimal score of sound design and heavily effected, droning instruments perfect for horror, crime and mystery. Very tense, serious and dark. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 100 BPM]
Homage to Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone. Heroic western theme. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 120 BPM]
Low, rhythmic bass sequence. Spatial, unsettling effects. Overdriven percussion. Ideal for science, mystery, darkness, laboratory, criminal mysteries. Science / Mystery / Tension. [Tempo: Medium / 100 BPM]
Hard hitting, fast, relentless and ruthless techno / industrial style material. This track is high on energy and packs a mean punch. Suitable for film chase or fight scene, extreme sports, racing, raw power, sci-fi and much more. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 86 BPM]
A good track for for both "Slow" and "Speed Motion" action trailer, this track is somewhat Epic with huge percussion. High energy and slow build-up. Good for trailers with a big Hollywood sound, suspense, drama, battles, and video game music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 73 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: Medium, Fast / 160 BPM]
A dramatic track that builds in tension and features strings, piano, big percussion hits, electric bass synth, and pads. Perfect for action and adventure scenes or reality game show programming. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 86 BPM]
Documentary or reality-TV style background music. Very pensive, with a a feeling of urgency, critical situation, danger, urgent investigations, rescue operations, etc. Great for reality shows, investigative journalism, crime reporting and much more. Also good for gameshow with problem solving while time is counting down. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
Suspenseful movement. Underlying rhythm with a high-tech feel, understated guitar notes, staccato strings. Building tension. Combination of orchestral and techno soundtrack. Excellent underscore material for thriller, secret mission, secret agent, military or swat team, etc. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 93 BPM]
Ominous thriller underscore. Piano theme joined by slowly rising strings and a low level rhythmic pulse. Subtle but serious -- suitable for political drama or thriller, law, action, crime or mystery. A sense of tragedy or serious consequences. [Tempo: Medium / 94 BPM]
Dangerous, nervous, dark thriller underscore. Twitchy synth just underneath the surface of a dark string- and piano texture. Sneaking, hiding, stakeout, mystery, secret mission and grave danger. [Tempo: Slow / 93 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]
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]
Military / Science fiction soundtrack style. A slow, pensive and mysterious opening gives way after a couple of minutes to a pompous, staccato horn stabs and marching snares and all-out battle with horn stabs and fast congas. Sci-fi and battle/chase scenes. Ominous, dramatic, conflict. [Tempo: Medium / 80 BPM]
Dark, ominous and foreboding, semi-orchestral film soundtrack. Mysterious, ominous and threatening, but always restrained and sneaky, this is a great underscore for adventure, mystery, journey, fantasy RPG etc. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
Classic dramatic Western style theme. Long shadows over Rio Grande. A hanging at dawn. A lone horseman riding into the sunset. A Mexican woman in distress. Shootout at the O.K. Corral. You get the idea. :) Very cinematic - Great stuff for Westerns, similar to soundtracks by Ennio Morricone. [Tempo: Medium / 75 BPM]
A swarm of rogue Robots is loose in the city: will our hero save the day? Orchestral, electronic and rock elements build a SciFi atmosphere with dynamic and tension shifts. Good for opening credits or action sequence score. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 123 BPM]
A dark, stressed battle or conflict track. Pulsating, big ethnic percussion, darkly twisted orchestral textures, vocal chants. Danger, tense situation. Rock guitar enters the mix at about 02:40. [Tempo: Medium / 87 BPM]
Pensive and mysterious, rhythmic film/drama underscore. Science, technology, investigation, perhaps forensics or chemistry. Finding solutions, interpreting clues, maybe building up to something. [Tempo: Medium / 80 BPM]
A subtle underscore for film, drama, war/documentary, cultural, historical etc. Has a dark nerve, with a slightly Oriental sounding motif around the 1 minute mark, which is followed by a sorrowful, desolate piano theme and a crescendo at about 2 mins. [Tempo: Slow / 55 BPM]
Spacey, dramatic, hypnotic, cinematic track with building tension and a slight exotic flavour due to use of percussion and eastern scales and instruments. Contains synths, strings, percussion, santoor and acoustic guitar [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 122 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]
Dark, sinister & menacing electro-rock track. Twisted, pulsing synths combine with slow dramatic strings and jagged beats, slowly building to an intense and heavy guitar-fueled climax. Would suit horror / thriller / action / suspense / halloween projects. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 112 BPM]
Terrifying, thriller, Chase, chilly, nervous tension, sinister, threatening, creepy. Horns, strings, cello, drone, flute, pads, synths. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 0 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 underscore track for use in film, games, and media. Varying intensities of fantasy / adventure background music, good for in-game, in-film, drama, cultural, historical and discovery. Has a sense of dark mystery, exotic mysticism, perhaps ancient dark secrets or undiscovered lands. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
Dramatic, hypnotic & edgy electro-rock track with great nervous tension and forward momentum. Would suit medical / spy / mystery / thriller type drama projects. [Tempo: Medium / 97 BPM]
Slightly dark, eerie & sinister electronic rock track with great atmosphere, forward drive & spacey textures. A mixture of synths, drum machines, acoustic drums, strings and guitar. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 119 BPM]
A brooding sense of danger that builds to a climax. Heavy brass are aided by stabbing strings and thumping percussion which is great to use as trek music with big landscape shots, in which the bad guys are after the good guys. [Tempo: Medium / 89 BPM]