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.
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]
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 rather intense mix of orchestral and electronic music. It's progressive construction makes it a pretty good fit to any story based energetic montage. [Tempo: Medium / 88 BPM]
Jazzy Experimental abstract track with a cinematic touch . [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 95 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]
Deep world percussion and fast strings, brass and huge drum accents. Good for heavy tension and struggle, dramatic reality TV cues such as Survivor, The Apprentice, Hell's Kitchen, Design Star and The Bachelor. [Tempo: Slow / 86 BPM]
Electronica, experimental, underscore. Haunting, Techno, Science / electronics. [Tempo: Fast / 144 BPM]
Cinematic action/adventure score starting with just horns before intense percussion, string motiff and dissonant orchestra lead the chase with a sense of urgency. Good for battles, racing against the clock, tense dramas, danger and peril ala Snow White, Hunger Games etc. [Tempo: Fast / 120 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]
Begins with fast paced electro/rock underscore. Distorted guitars and sounds design are prevalent throughout. At mid-point, the entire orchestra joins in with a trailer-esque choir which builds to a final crescendo with brass stabs for impact. [Tempo: Fast / 150 BPM]
Creepy orchestration suggests an approaching evil menace or a supernatural event. Steeped in suspense, this dark, sinister piece builds towards a horrific & sudden conclusion. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
Epic and dramatic with many suspense and action sections. Strong and catchy melody. Orchestral with contemporary percussion grooves makes this piece very accessible and suitable to a huge range of productions and media applications. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 120 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]
Powerful trailer music full of momentum and drive. Good for promotions of video games, film or television needing that big Hollywood sound. Has a nice break in the middle just before a powerful ending. Emotional, strong and cinematic. [Tempo: Fast / 120 BPM]
A man, wrongly convicted for a murder he didn't commit, escapes custody and must stay ahead of the police to find the real killer! This track was made for your next trailer or action movie/videogame soundtrack. [Tempo: Slow / 92 BPM]
Fast, frantic and hard hitting semi-orchestral, semi-electronic music for action, fight or racing scene. Distorted, twisted guitars, deep brass stabs, extremely fast techno breakbeat. Chase or battle material. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 115 BPM]
Classic horror flick type material, with mystical chords and stabbing rhythms. Hypnotic feel. The creepy crawlies are out to get you! [Tempo: Slow / 84 BPM]
A mixture of electronic synths, percussion and strings are used to generate a sense of risk. The constant pulse throughout adds to the anxiety, making this ideal for game shows with elimination rounds. [Tempo: Slow / 63 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]
A magical, sweeping, cinematic piece with a 'lurking' feel. Good as background music for fantasy and adventure, this track uses a full orchestra with bells. Pensive chord progressions. A sense of mystery and intrigue. Amazement and wonderment. Somewhat "Harry Potter-esque". Very craftfully produced orchestral sound. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 0 BPM]
Not for the faint-hearted! Menacing Score track with powerful drums and diverse aggressive, distorted sounds. Evil, scary and very dark. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 120 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]
Dark, aggressive and very rhythmic composition with menacing, machine-like drumsounds and effects. Edgy, mysterious and suspense-packed. Suitable as a movie score for science fiction, technology and action. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 110 BPM]
Dark and mysterious Score track with strings, horn section, sound effects and energetic percussions. Very atmospheric, dramatic and highly diversified. Ideal for thriller and all kinds of suspense. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
Dark, aggressive Score track with hard, distorted e-guitars, synths and metallic industrial drumsounds. Energetic and menacing. Good for action and suspense. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
Heavy bass drums and a string bass set the tone for this dark and menacing track. The familiar refrain then plays, but is made expressive and almost violent as it is played on several string basses and cellos. Screeching dark, electronically chattery. Nightmarish. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
Influenced by the Breaking Bad soundtrack, dark, ambient, exotic and a touch quirky featuring resonator guitar, percussion, strings and fx. Drawing elements from south west america, world music and cinematic effects this is great for tv and film drama scores and themes, documentaries and travel. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 85 BPM]
A lonely music box melody builds to a full orchestra before ending as it begins. Dark, tense and climactic but not too scary, family oriented horror. Good for trailers, video games, cartoons, halloween, quirky Tim Burton type films and even commercials. [Tempo: Slow / 70 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]
This is a dark and claustrophobic adventure that’s soon to come to a bloody ending. Transparent piano harmonies accompany a mellow, yet terrifying string melody, building up to an unfortunate ending. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 60 BPM]