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.
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]
Military style battle music for underscore, TV or video game. Features low brass, percussion and strings. [Tempo: Medium / 104 BPM]
Dark and cinematic cue with a reflective beginning and builds to a tense and emotional climax. Starting with simple piano before strings and horns slowly creep in. Great for movies and documentaries. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 120 BPM]
A dark suspense piece with a haunting quality. Tension builds amidst huge drums and orchestra with an abnormal sense of determination. [Tempo: Medium / 143 BPM]
A mandolin and strings powered look into a dark and dirty world. The space created by the atmospheric music is reminiscent of films like Babel and Syriana. Tortured flute amplifies the tension; whatever is about to happen can't be good! [Tempo: Slow / 135 BPM]
A dark, atmospheric track with an eerie and unnerving feel. Perfect for horror, Halloween, dark themed productions that need a foreboding, menacing and creepy soundtrack to create a nightmarish and unnerving tension and chilling atmosphere. [Tempo: Slow / 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]
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: Slow, Medium / 90 BPM]
Short evolving epic track with tension building. A climate of danger, mystery, anxiety leading to the climax ending part. [Tempo: Slow / 66 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]
A dark and ominous fantasy / adventure soundtrack, dominated by dark and moody pad textures and a muted trumpet. This track starts out sneaky and foreboding, and grows over time, gradually building up the intensity towards a climax at the end. A combination of orchestral and modern sounds, the track is gloomy, eerie and majestic. [Tempo: Slow / 97 BPM]
Disturbing and dramatic piece uses all new sounds and textures. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 112 BPM]
Pensive, sinister, apprehensive, sneaking, waiting. Dramatic underscore that provides nerve and tension to film, crime, investigation, stakeout, horror or dark mystery. [Tempo: Medium / 105 BPM]
Driving string ostinatos begin this tension filled track, featuring cool synth lines, ambient pads, piano, and grooving drum beats. Good for an adventurous reality game show or an action packed thriller. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 86 BPM]
Mysterious and exciting score track with a modern sound featuring piano, synths and strings. Good for mystery, thriller and suspenseful action movies. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 115 BPM]
Suspenseful track with nervous strings and solemn, dignified brass. Like a hero in waiting, or awaiting onset of a battle. Foreboding, forewarning. Honor and valor. Also good for war documentary, etc. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
An intense orchestral piece. Dark and ominous choral sounds combine with heavy brass, strings, and percussion to create a dark and nerve wracking overall vibe. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 82 BPM]
Ominous and powerful theme music featuring distant trumpet, orchestral trumpet and strings creating an enticing atmosphere. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 104 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with marching snares, military march. Occasional big drum strikes. Pensive, Dark, Threatening, Tension. [Tempo: Slow / 117 BPM]
A tense and threatening track that's great to use in a teaser trailer. With big percussion, synths, acoustic guitars, underlined by penetrating strings and brass. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 114 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]
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]
Predators are closing in, tension builds, an attempted escape, a chase. This is an fully orchestral cinematic score of underlying horror and suspense that builds up. Key of D, 120 bpm. [Tempo: Slow / 57 BPM]
Dark, edgy and dramatic electronic underscore, with big drums, orchestral horns, mechanical chimes and big drops. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 135 BPM]
A somewhat dark, pensive and mysterious, neo-classical / film soundtrack styled piece. Elegant, but edgy. Dark stirrings / Malevolent / Grotesque. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 104 BPM]
A creepy piece that starts off with a slow piano, builds as low strings makes it's way. Perfect for a scene where somebody is walking alone in the woods, hunted by a killer, or having a mental breakdown. Could also imagine a lone man, driving through a desolate city. [Tempo: Slow / 60 BPM]
Medium slow, intensely powerfully epic, spacey, grinder rock track. Has a dark & menacing atmosphere built by heavy guitars mixing with massive drum grooves & spacious synth textures. Would suit extreme sports / horror / action / thriller projects. Potent stuff. [Tempo: Slow / 106 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]
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]
Cinematic dramatic action track with deep and dark vibe and growing tension. Good for jungle and forest scenes, ambush in the battle, war and special military operations, spy films and videos. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
Mysterious electronic underscore, for moments of uncertainty and problem solving. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 85 BPM]
Cool and ethereal electro rock track with a slightly sinister undertone. Spacey plucked santoors float over soft and spacey synth pads and noises as a slow, determined beat kicks in. Would suit dramatic or cinematic projects. [Tempo: Slow / 59 BPM]
Aggressive, mysterious, cinematic track with Middle Eastern/Arabic feel. Huge drums, rock guitars, atmospheric electronics and vocal chants. No guitars and vocals version available. There is also Underscore edit that omits the drums, bass, guitars and chants, leaving only background instruments. [Tempo: Medium / 160 BPM]
Light suspenseful tension track suitable for reality television results shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, to keep your audience anxious. Low brooding bass, morphing synths, emphatic strings, and escalating percussion all work to create an intense edge-of-your-seat atmosphere. [Tempo: Fast / 144 BPM]
Inspired by classic role playing video games, the noble orchestra of this piece creates a heroic mood as its sets the stage for dark challenges in a dangerous dungeon. [Tempo: Slow / 65 BPM]
A dark, foreboding choir and plaintive harp suddenly explode into a torrent of sound that spirals through distortion before returning to the choir and harp once again for the final bars. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 110 BPM]
A dark, somewhat gloomy, mystery soundtrack. Perhaps crime, criminals, crime investigation. Dystopian, with a sense of activity and danger. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 138 BPM]
Cinematic Action music track great for crime and investigation programs, news, documentaries, also for films, TV series and action trailers evolving around Police, FBI and CIA. Featuring orchestral strings and woodwinds, synthesizers, keyboards and contemporary drum beat. [Tempo: Slow / 114 BPM]
Dark, gloomy, sinister underscore for film, TV, games, thriller, chiller, horror, etc. Darkly sparkling. Suspenseful, few notes, somewhat experimental, ambient soundscapes. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 110 BPM]
A pulsating synth and eerie melodies create a haunting, suspenseful atmosphere soon joined by synth bass and an electric guitar ostinato. Electronic and Acoustic drums and percussion help build a crescendo and reinforce the feeling of purposeful, unstoppable resolution. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
Rhythmic synths open this tension building track, featuring pulsating bass and string motifs and drum grooves. A great action or thriller track with a mysterious mood. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 91 BPM]
A cinematic, pensive track that starts with a fragile piano motif, and then grows, increases, builds… into a crescendo. Available with our without big drums. Suspenseful. Good for dramatic scenes, imminent danger, approaching situation. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
A dark, orchestral suspense track made with epic orchestra and drums. Ominous, foreboding. [Tempo: Slow / 100 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]
Nervous soundtrack underscore for a classic western style duel. A mysterious lone ranger rides into town, will there be another shootout at the OK Corral? Interspersed with occasional mexican flavors. [Tempo: Slow / 70 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]
A simple underscore featuring a string ostinato that builds tension and suspense under a scene. A worldly flute melody provides a colorful, mysterious "crimes and investigation" type feeling. [Tempo: Medium / 110 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]
A modern, pumped up and ready to rumble composition of big drums, guitars and electronics. Will work great in a UFC or WWF environment or pre-fight analysis. Will also work well in areas such as gaming, racing, competition, contact sports and even technology. [Tempo: Medium / 120 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]
