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 feeling of suspense and eerieness. Chase, suspense, urgent, uneasy, tension, anticipation. Sneaky tension. World percussion, strings, horns, synths. [Tempo: Medium / 83 BPM]
Dark, pounding, tension / action music track. Hybrid electronic / orchestral arrangement, gritty and edgy. Malevolent, Apocalyptic music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 80 BPM]
Orchestral hits and numerous rises and falls make this a dramatic track that tells a story. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 125 BPM]
A slowly rising, epic music track - developing into melodic anthem. Suspenseful, uplifting, orchestral. Amazement / Wonderment music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 145 BPM]
A slow, restrained and understated, hip-hop style beat provide the basis for this somewhat dark track somewhere between electronica, hip-hop and cinematic soundtrack. This track will go well with a dark corporation or with forensics / investigation / crime solving etc. Has a slightly ominous or malevolent feel, combined with the methodical and calculated. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 75 BPM]
Dark and moody atmosphere that develops towards a powerful and heroic theme, mixed with modern elements, guitars and drum loops. Not limited to just Western productions. Has a certain "swamp" feel. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 120 BPM]
This track is Jekyll and Hyde. The tense intro has techno beats and synth sequences which build in intensity until all hell breaks loose and the guitars enter with a hellishly ferocious and relentless riff. Contains synths, drum machines, guitars and bass. [Tempo: Medium / 127 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 / 140 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]
Intense piano and strings are soon joined by heavy urban drums. For setting an ominous, serious mood. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 84 BPM]
An evolving and building, suspenseful music track, combining hybrid & pulsating synths and symphonic orchestra. Ending as a loud trailer piece, with added organ sound. Awe / Majestic / Incredible Music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 120 BPM]
Battle drums. Pounding percussion. A combination of orchestral percussion and ethnic / tribal drums. Suitable for battle, fight, chase, brawls and action scenes. [Tempo: Medium / 96 BPM]
A suspenseful action trailer music track featuring deep and growling synths combined with pulsation motion and orchestra. Hurried feel with 7/8 time signature. Suitable music for epic content, trailers and blockbuster videos. [Tempo: Fast / 0 BPM]
A gritty, semi-industrial Hybrid action music track, with a dark, violent edge and a rough, doom laden feel. Hard, edgy, danger, tension music. [Tempo: Medium / 90 BPM]
Dark and industrial, orchestral rock and hip hop, reminiscent of Dj Shadow or Moby. Soft organs chords lay the motif before bass guitars and rock drums cut through and combine to create highly dramatic feeling, an epic odyssey. Twisted, glitched metal guitars follow before breaking down into an epic string section to conclude the journey. Ideal for use in high-end advertising and promotional pieces - Also included is an "Orchestral" version - an ambient mix ideally suited for scoring in the modern Fantasy / Supernatural genres. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 80 BPM]
A brooding, ominous and dark soundtrack for mystery, thriller or drama. Foreboding / Tense / Threatening. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 65 BPM]
A series of 26 individual music tracks. Semi-orchestral, semi-electronic soundtrack work inspired by "Babylon 5", etc. Brooding, pompous, epic, military style. Some of these are grouped together -- i.e. "epic 1 calm", "epic 1 suspense" and "epic 1 battle" use the same instrumentation and underlying tempo, making them work well together. Of course, they work well individually too. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 42 BPM]
Dark American drama music with strings, guitars and drums with a menacing and foreboding mood. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 125 BPM]
Pulsing energetic percussive beat, dark and solemn , threatening, tense, and powerful, perfect for a war action scene. [Tempo: Medium / 83 BPM]
Ancient and mysterious soundscape with tribal influences, indian and South American flutes. Great for history documentaries and specials. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
A sharp hit begins this brooding, sinister horror track, which features suspenseful, ambient synth swells and atmospheric string effects. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 55 BPM]
A dark and powerful Action / Suspense / Thriller soundtrack that changes between "suspicion" and "battle" sequences. Alternating between suspense / pensive tones and all-out action music with powerful, urgent percussion and orchestra. Can be edited to fit the timing of your production. Use for spy thriller, military operation, action game / film etc. [Tempo: Slow, Fast, Very fast / 80 BPM]
Heavy pounding drum driven big orchestral sound. Hectic very fast powerful driving solid dramatic adventure with uplifting high energy. Energizing, pulsating, production music. Bold dramatic and tense chase scene, crime in progress, bank heist, dynamic racing and action scenes. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 118 BPM]
Dramatic and mystical film score/soundtrack made with orchestra and synths. Spy / Mystery / Crime / Action Music. [Tempo: Medium / 100 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: Slow, Medium, Fast / 116 BPM]
A dark and intense music track, slowly building from a quiet and suspense atmosphere. Evolves into a big, and powerful track loaded with orchestral and hybrid sounds, accompanied with choir. Epic / Sci-Fi / Future Music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 75 BPM]
Fantasy style orchestral soundtrack. Dark, gloomy and ominous. Big horn sections, mysterious melodies. Great for fantasy, epic adventures, dark times, horror, impending doom and conflict. Occasional deep vocal grunts and chants. This piece plays for over 6 minutes with plenty of variation, and can be used for several different cues, or used all together as background atmosphere. [Tempo: Slow / 75 BPM]
Dark ambient, Horror underscore. Mysterious / Suspicious / Ominous / Sickly. Dark sound design. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 75 BPM]
A very nasty industrial-electronic track with vicious, pounding percussion and a violent, edgy and gritty sound. Violence / Horror / Sci-fi / Destruction / Alarm / Madness. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 88 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]
Dreamatic, slightly dark, cult music, eerie, sinister undertones, alternative. Electric guitar, rhythm, synth, strings, choir, horns. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 116 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 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]
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 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]
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 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]
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]
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 dark solo piano piece that has an underlying feeling of menace, danger and horror. Piano sounds like a beating heart at the end as the suspense grows but resolves. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 0 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]
Music for a showdown at high noon. Begins tense and sparse, building in energy through several stages as the gunfighters size each other up, it finally ends with a climax as a gun fires and one of the men falls. [Tempo: Slow / 87 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]
This piece of electronic music is suitable for any scene of rushing or urgency within a hospital or medical facility. It could also be used for a chase scene within a hospital. Included in this track is the beeping and ticking sound of a typical heart and blood pressure monitor at bedside - which completes the tension felt when listening. [Tempo: Medium / 120 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]
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]
Ominous and powerful theme music featuring distant trumpet, orchestral trumpet and strings creating an enticing atmosphere. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 104 BPM]
A dark, percussive piece. Low, swelling strings and steady drums lead into an intense pulsing action cue. A hero's theme of determination. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 97 BPM]
Orchestra and percussion accompany bassoon playing a very mysterious, almost seductive melody. Perhaps someone is making a deal with a shadowy character who has a dark and sinister plan. [Tempo: Slow / 67 BPM]