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 contemporary orchestral film score / cinematic track with a sense of danger and unease. Staccato rhythm. Turmoil / Agitation / Urgency. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 144 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]
An epic orchestral track, great for scenes of a grand adventure, action, new discoveries, a fantasy world, an epic journey. It has a dramatic, awe-inspiring feel with a heroic and cinematic sound. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
Synth and orchestra, in the style of modern thrillers like the Bourne movies. The music keeps the suspense going yet doesn't get big or overly busy. Perfect under dialog. Perhaps someone is being followed, without their knowledge. Things are quiet now, but conflict looms ahead. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 87 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]
A melody of spacious strings & soprano voice quickly descend into darkness & mystery. Fantasy, sci-fi, adventure. Perhaps magic or mysterious intrigues. Amazement, wonderment. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
A glimpse into the twisted mental circuits of an alien robot killer on the prowl. Synth pads, noises and basslines overlay an edgy drum groove to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand-up. In space no one can hear you beg for mercy. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 130 BPM]
A pensive and mystical, semi-orchestral music track with staccato strings and a sense of tension building. Dramatic / Thriller / Crime Music. [Tempo: Medium / 80 BPM]
A full on dramatic action track, great for big superhero style trailers, or modern powerful sci fi films. Mixing traditional scoring orchestral elements with modern futuristic glitched style synths, this track is perfect for that big budget trailer sound, or for an epic dramatic action film. [Tempo: Slow / 78 BPM]
Useful for animation and short animated story of two parts. Anxiety and mystery, thrill and unanswered riddle in first part. Then it quickly switches to second part which has more tension and is more dynamic, pefect for telling sad story about kind of bad thing which happened somewhere. [Tempo: Medium / 122 BPM]
An orchestral piece written for action and adventure sequences. It is full of drama, suspense, powerful drum hits, stabs, and melodic lines.
[Tempo: Medium, Fast / 130 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]
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]
Frightening dark ambient horror music bed featuring the sounds of sinister spirits knocking, broken piano, and scary choir. TV static and plenty of door smashes for that extra eerieness well suited for horror, thriller, suspense and fantasy footage, as welll as video games. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
Urgent and dramatic electro underscore. Powerful yet unobtrusive. [Tempo: Medium / 120 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]
Tension-filled background music for thriller, suspense and tension. Pulsating synths with percussion. Great for police operation, swat team, crime in progress, stakeout, spy / undercover and more. Besides the main track, this piece also comes as several seamless loops which can be used in combination with each other to 'build' the soundtrack needed for a scene, in a modular way. Simply place the different loops on the timeline, in a way that matches your on-screen action, or blend, combine, crop and join the loop pieces to create your own 'version' of the track. [Tempo: Medium / 100 BPM]
A slow and dramatic hybrid orchestral track that brings to mind struggle, confrontation, battles, war and the fallen soldiers. Reflecting and dwelling on past events. Heavy drums, electronic elements, pulsating strings and slow somber brass. [Tempo: Slow / 108 BPM]
Modern suspenseful music played by orchestra, synths, and ethnic instruments. Sounds like the opening credits for a spy movie based in the middle east. Driving, pulsating rhythms keep the energy up, while atmospheric sections create a moody, dramatic feel. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 99 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 tough, uncompromising and dynamic soundtrack with a driving, futuristic feel that would suit epic visuals, contemporary gaming, modern war themes, movie trailers & films. Stark instrumentation leaves room for narrative, epic sound design or added SFX. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
Intense drama themed piece that uses driving percussion and urgent strings to full effect. It relentlessly builds to a dramatic conclusion.
[Tempo: Medium, Fast / 130 BPM]A menace lurks in the shadows, slowly creeping towards it's victim. OR: Someone enters a house, to make a gruesome discovery... Full orchestra with synth horror atmospherics. Ends with a big bang! [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 55 BPM]
Inspired by film maker and composer John Carpenter, this is a homage to his masterpiece The Thing, starring Kurt Russell. Ominous blend of synthesizers and orchestral horns, with a repetitive tense motif. [Tempo: Slow / 93 BPM]
An ambient film soundtrack cue with a very mysterious edge. Pensive, slowly moving soundscape, like hiding, sneaking, or breaking and entering. A subtle rhythmic element enters about half way through along with a deep drone, giving the track a darker, more ominous edge. Great for crime thriller, investigative documentary, a tense moment during reality show or forensic investigation, etc. [Tempo: Slow / 109 BPM]
Orchestra starts small, adding a touch of tension and uncertainty, but soon builds to an inspiring punchy melody. A soaring heroic horn melody comes in after a while, and carries us through to a big ending. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 75 BPM]
It's night time in a large modern city. An agent attempts to infiltrate a heavily secured hi tech facility. Starts small and gets huge towards the end. Soaring choir and orchestra along with interesting synth layers and drums. For modern suspenseful films and TV, and trailers and promos. [Tempo: Medium / 97 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]
Energetic percussion/electronic track with impelling synth riffs, huge orchestral drums. Perfect for action films, extreme sports and trailers. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 120 BPM]
A pensive, rhythmic underscore for a dark thriller, drama, crime mystery or documentary. The percussion carries a slightly ethnic or tribal feel, while the wailing, screeching metallic pads give the track a sense of fear, anxious waiting or nervous movement. Great for film, television drama, crime scene investigation, reality show and much more. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 86 BPM]
This Cinematic / Electronic crossover track opens with a unique string like synth and a strong melodic theme. The first drop is a heavy hitting slow pace theme that builds with the original melody layered with synthesizers and strings, before it builds up with distorted drums, a strong string melody and a pitched-up effect to a big hit at the end. This track will work for movie and video game trailers, scenes of battle or struggle. Dark / Industrial / Cinematic / Apocalyptic. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 65 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, Fast / 85 BPM]
Slow brush drums hitting softly with distorted long sounds and some scary sounds. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 60 BPM]
An edgy and tense action track. Pounding percussion and staccato strings provide the forward-driving energy, and occasional blaring horns and an ethnic lute join in from time to time to provide additional drama and a bit of ethnic mystery to the intense action music. Suitable for tension, action, urgent operations, etc. (Stem files available.) [Tempo: Fast / 125 BPM]
A swing jazz band playing on top of a bed of scary string tremolos and SFX. A pause at 1:42. Afterwards, brass instruments return with some crazy noodling. Unsettling, a bit psychedelic, perhaps losing grip on reality. [Tempo: Medium / 115 BPM]
Dramatic and mystical film score/soundtrack made with orchestra and synths. Spy / Mystery / Crime / Action Music. [Tempo: Medium / 100 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]
Tense orchestral piece. Pulsing drums and strings, abrasive brass and drums, haunting textures and an overall suspenseful pursuit. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 98 BPM]
A contemporary, cinematic music track with an intriguing and captivating vibe. Featuring piano, strings, glockenspiel, atmospheric pads and orchestral percussion. Great for dynamic action scenes in films, TV and documentaries. [Tempo: Medium / 125 BPM]
A dark and determined, forceful and methodical, orchestral march. Relentlessly marching on, an awesome force. Dark / Foreboding / Relentless / Doom-laden / Forceful. [Tempo: Medium / 95 BPM]
A gritty, tense and constantly building track with a sudden halt to push towards the next boundary in the middle of this cinematic soundtrack. Suitable for dramatic, edgy and dark story-telling. A raw, dark and intense orchestral soundtrack. (Stem files available.) [Tempo: Fast / 160 BPM]
A dark, tense and dramatic, textured film score piece. Very slight eastern European feel, but certainly not limited to that region. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
Ambient, semi-orchestral track with suspended strings and deep percussion hits. This tense music cue has a sense of historic drama, lurking danger, impending tragedy, conflict and betrayal as war plots being brewed. Highly suitable as a soundtrack for historical documentary, drama, as medieval/fantasy material, be it films, fantasy games, TV specials or other installations. Easy loopable and editable. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 0 BPM]
This track combines strange noises with unusual, repeated, freaky piano melodies. This would work well as part of a freaky dream or nightmare sequence. It also could work quite well in the horror genre or during a haunting. Also quite perfect for Halloween and haunted houses. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
Edgy ambient/rock, heavy, dark, industrial. Sort of ambient electronic at the beginning. Kicks off towards the end of track with a build up. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 105 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 rhythmic, dark, orchestral track of amazement and tension. Similar to the style/sound of Hans Zimmer music, this cinematic piece has a strong sense of nerve and drama.
[Tempo: Medium / 100 BPM]An ominous, dark and dramatic, orchestral / cinematic piece. Foreboding strings build up towards a change at about 30 seconds, into a more dramatic section with choir and big drums. Epic, dark, almost ritualistic. [Tempo: Slow / 95 BPM]
This track has an eerie and deranged mood. It has hints of psychosis and insanity and features the main melody played on a detuned toy music box. It would be well suited for footage and video games about horror, suspense, fantasy and paranormal subject matter. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
Screeching basses and cellos build up to a musical stab, aided by french horn rip, cymbal crashes and violin clusters. If you want the audience to jump, this is the ideal track. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
