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 suspenseful introduction with synths, percussion, and piano lends way to a faster paced, exciting, tension building track with the addition of strings, pads, melodic motifs, and driving rhythms. [Tempo: Medium / 91 BPM]
Imagine walking through the ruins of a haunted castle at night, never knowing what night be round the next cobweb covered corner. A very black and sinister piece. Slow with a building tension. Contains synths, drum kit, guitars and bass. [Tempo: Slow / 68 BPM]
A truly grand and epic track. Hybrid orchestral, with electronic percussion and electric guitar and a choir joining in later. A sense of high drama and epic journeys. Amazement / Heroic / Determined / Grand. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 125 BPM]
Mysterious / Awaiting / Obscure / Uncertain / Thoughtful / Riddle Music. Small orchestra soundtrack piece, featuring live performed orchestral instruments, suitable as music for film and other media. [Tempo: Medium / 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]
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]
Electronic underscore with warm piano, spacey synthesizer and lush pads. Explorer, keep moving forward feel. Mystical, eerie. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
Opening with a simple ambient piano motif, this track soon explodes into a dark, passion fuelled combination of distorted guitars and driving percussion - Dramatic / Aggressive / Futuristic. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 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]
A dark, foreboding, gloomy, orchestral cinematic / soundtrack piece. A sense of slow forward movment or progress. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 120 BPM]
An evil, Far East / Oriental style 'bad guy' theme that moves slowly, but threateningly to create a sense of anxiety. The Erhu is backed by a deep chanting male choir, drums and tense strings. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 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]
A stirring and uneasy, urgent feeling, underscore for film/drama. Tension / Unease / Urgency / Foreboding. Great for things like a courtroom drama or perhaps police, detective work, crime in progress, etc. (Stem files available.) [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 70 BPM]
A dangerous and overwhelming piece of background music. Powerful and intense. Will work with danger, fear and dark scenes. Good for film, drama, entertainment. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 125 BPM]
Tense beginning with a sense of preparations close to a big event, like a sports game, battle or major test. Orchestra and drums start out with a punchy, energetic melody. About halfway through the rhythmic energy dissipates and a heroic melody soars. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 85 BPM]
Filmic and reflective electro underscore, with cool retro synths and warm subs. Romanic and with a hint of melancholy. [Tempo: Slow / 85 BPM]
An atmospheric dramatic track that begins with light piano and synths and expands with the addition of strings, electric guitar, and heavy drums. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 64 BPM]
A soundtrack for mystery and intrigue. Uneasy stirrings. Suspicion, underlying tension. An elegant mystery theme in classic TV/film style. [Tempo: Medium / 92 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]
A hybrid orchestral / electronic track with a strong sense of amazement and drama. Dark, but also soaring, this track has a Sci-fi / Future feel, but also an almost primal edge to it. Good for Scifi / Fantasy / Action adventure. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 70 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]
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, 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 very dark and edgy track with a slow, pounding rhythm and a raw, destroyed sound. Available with, or without, the tribal shout vocals. Primal and futuristic at the same time, this track would go well with an ominous Sci-fi or Fantasy production. The version with the vocals has a more Savage / Barbarian feel, and the version without the vocals has a more Sci-fi / Metallic / Apocalyptic feel. [Tempo: Slow / 55 BPM]
Low, propulsive deep bass. Gradually building an atmosphere of horror, dystopia, uncertainty, and fear. Suitable for horror movies, thrillers, crime and criminal investigation, sci-fi and mystery, spies, undercover agents, danger and tension.(Stem files available.) [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 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 / 150 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]
A dark, ambient track that showcases atmospheric synths and a short but intense percussion build at the end. For horror films or thrillers. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 67 BPM]
Dark and ominous event, eerie sounds, threatening and edgy, sustains with aggressive internal percussive events. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 100 BPM]
Tense, building free jazz underscore. Pulsing,hypnotic,and intense low-tempo track,with atmospheric synth sounds and a slow build up. It brings to mind a sense of danger and anticipation. Nice for productions that require a dense, dark and a bit scary backdrop, such as features and TV shows. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 130 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]
A tense and uneasy soundtrack cue for a dangerous situation. Dark, ominous, threatening, foreboding. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 80 BPM]
A dramatic and imposing orchestral cinematic track, with a strong sense of the occult and dark magic. Great for the occult, black arts, sorcery, voodoo, devil worship and classic horror content. Dark Fantasy / Malevolent / Disturbing / Foreboding. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 87 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]
There’s a difference between terror and horror. This track is a sonic tale of the inner workings of a demonic serial killer as he/she confesses their brutal crime. It’s a slow buildup of organic string lines and atmospheric tension stretched across two minutes of anxiety and creepiness until the explosive ending. [Tempo: Slow / 60 BPM]
Atmospheric horror. For dark, brooding scenes, especially sci fi. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
Building from an uneasy atmosphere into complete Bedlam with a variety of orchestral passages, stabs and flourishes. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 114 BPM]
A tense, ominous, brooding underscore for action, thriller, sci-fi and more. Pounding percussion, dark pads and sweeps. Urgency / Danger. Also available in a version without the drums, which represents a more sneaky / dark ambient feel. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
Soundtrack / Sci-fi / Space / Fantasy. This dark and ominous track suggests that there is danger around the corner. Could work in scenes involving exploration or tension. The climax in the middle could be used to denote some type of discovery. [Tempo: Slow / 103 BPM]
A dark and cinematic orchestral piece. Driving percussion tracks combine with darkly harmonized strings and an Indian vocal flair to create a sense of tension and urgency. [Tempo: Slow / 75 BPM]
This is a very emotional cinematic composition. Peaceful and slightly melancholic beginning building up to the very dramatic and sensational middle part with a very epic powerful orchestra and grand piano passages, and then going back to the first part. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow, Medium / 85 BPM]
Dark ambient, Horror underscore. Mysterious / Suspicious / Ominous. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 80 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 / 165 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 dark and pensive Sci-fi / futuristic underscore. Cinematic, slowly developing, with a deeply pulsating beat and string section. Uneasy, tense, gloomy. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 65 BPM]
Pulsating, monotonous bass. Occasional repetitive piano melody. Minimal percussion, building sound effects. Evokes a sense of menace, mystery, uncertainty and tension. Suitable for dramatic films, spies and undercover agents, criminals / crime in progress and stakeout operations. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 77 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]
Epic and massive music track featuring big cinematic orchestra and powerful energetic drums. The structure is made of one piece (loopable, no divided parts). Epic / Battle / Determined Music. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
Pulsing energetic percussive beat, dark and solemn , threatening, tense, and powerful, perfect for a war action scene. [Tempo: Medium / 83 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]
