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.
This track starts with a nervously pulsating rhythm and sorrowful, wailing ethnic strings, before it erupts into a majestic, powerful and dramatic, slow march with full orchestra and choir. Pompous, menacing, awe inspiring. A quiet epilogue follows with ethnic / mysterious strings. Slightly middle eastern feel. World mystery / ethnic drama etc. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 120 BPM]
A tension and suspense music bringing the rising power of orchestra, large brass ensemble and explosive and powerful percussion ensemble. Amazement / Uprising / Glory / Grandeur. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 85 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]
A passionate and epic music, featuring airy orchestral sound blended with pulsating deep synth. Grand / Soaring / Inspirational music track. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
Sneaky, suspicious underscore track for film, tv, media. Spy / Secret Agent / Crime. Sneaking, hiding, stalking, searching. Perhaps investigating or finding clues, or possible track and follow mission. Dark and mysterious. [Tempo: Slow / 92 BPM]
15 minutes continuous, uninterrupted background music track for video productions and other media. Mystical, eerie, cold and pulsating soundtrack for Scifi or Mystery. Brooding music, pensive and awe inducing. Creates a feeling of unknown tension, and a vast space. [Tempo: Slow / 120 BPM]
Energetic royalty-free orchestral music track with a rising feel and a sense of progression. Uplifting and positive, call to action rising drums with an emotional solo cello melody. Rousing, passionate and large. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 160 BPM]
This orchestral cinematic soundtrack has a sense of greatness and grandeur, but without going all out. Poignant and graceful, the track has a darkness, but is also filled with awe, amazement and wonderment. The track builds up to a climax around the 01:20 mark. Emotional, soaring, and with dignity and a timeless cinema sound. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 135 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 dramatic and high-impact soundtrack with an action drama feel, combined with some ethnic and mystery elements. Somewhat eerie, edgy, alien, and mystical. Action thriller / Fantasy / Sci-fi / Danger. (Stem files available.) [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 120 BPM]
A stormful classical strings composition, suitable for dramatic period drama, book trailers, film trailers, serious drama and more. Passionate and tense, with staccato and legato strings, inspired by Beethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart. (Stem files available.) [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 116 BPM]
A suspenseful and ominous music with elements of mystery, conspiracy, intrigue with intensity throughout. Guitar and electronic elements. Good music for trailers, too. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
Dark, omninous, menacing orchestral soundtrack. Deep, pounding percussion, blaring horns and a war mongering, chanting choir of deep voices, primal, perhaps beasts or orcs. Impending war, battle, conflict. Great fantasy material, highly suitable for film, games or trailers. This track is recorded with a live philharmonic orchestra and choir. [Tempo: Medium / 98 BPM]
Nervous action / thriller underscore. Stakeout, movement, urgency, ticking bomb. This track has a strong and tense nerve, as if everthing is going to blow at any second. Good tension, helped by severely distorted synths and guitars mixed in with the semi-orchestral textures. [Tempo: Medium / 130 BPM]
Dark and ominous percussion, anxious, ritualistic, tribal, fear, malevolence. For more in this style, please see the genre Ambient: Dark/Sinister [Tempo: Slow / 104 BPM]
Slow chords, ominous and serious, full orchestra. Good as underscore for drama, scifi, fantasy and adventure. Also for crime, spy conspiracy and personal turmoil, conflict. [Tempo: Slow / 61 BPM]
A bleak and mournful track used in a documentary about the Hungerford Massacre. A crying female vocal works alongside a desolate piano, acoustic guitars, and drums to a very powerful and emotional climax. The variations offer gentler alternatives to the man track. [Tempo: Very slow, Slow / 64 BPM]
Sparse, dark and ominous ambient track. Good for film noir, dark thriller, horror, sci-fi or spy mystery. Pensive strings, deep bass, reverberant congas. [Tempo: Slow / 0 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]
A sparse track with a dark, grimy, gloomy, foreboding, raw, naked sound. Features heavily distorted guitar and ambient percussion. [Tempo: Slow / 104 BPM]
A very dark film soundtrack underscore cue featuring bowed metals, drones and a subdued percussion section with a tribal feel. A few well placed spanish guitar tones adds a sense of drama and emotion. Great for thriller, crime mystery, documentary, urgent situation. [Tempo: Slow / 108 BPM]
A strange and unsettling semi-orchestral film underscore. Nervous and uncertain, swirling and clangy. Suitable for a very tense and pensive moment in a dark drama, horror, crime thriller or documentary. Carries a sense of hidden evil or a disturbing truth. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 120 BPM]
Monolithic / Uprising / Doomsday / Awe / Amazement. Grand orchestral soundtrack depicting the rise of an awesome power. Judgment day. The hour of truth. Very ominous, malevolent, powerful. Dark, but triumphant, conquering. Good for fantasy, action, sci-fi, horror and adventure. (A note about the version described as 'Stage Mix': This version is recorded with the reverb/ambiance of a concert hall, making it sound somewhat more 'distant' from the listener and, some would say, more 'live') [Tempo: Slow / 60 BPM]
A powerful and grand / regal orchestral / symphonic soundtrack piece, driven forward by Taiko like percussion. Pounding drums combine with dramatic string sections to create a sense of imminent battle, dangerous situation. Perhaps a sea rescue, a dangerous missing on enemy territory, or the rise of an awesome fighting force. Military / Fantasy / Action / Conflict / Fight. (A note about the version described as 'Stage Mix': This version is recorded with the reverb/ambiance of a concert hall, making it sound somewhat more 'distant' from the listener and, some would say, more 'live') [Tempo: Medium / 75 BPM]
A grand, epic track that is not very aggressive or dark, but rather more illuminating, sacred, expectant. Rousing and regal, with a victorious / triumphant 'resolve' at the end. Good for fantasy, sci-fi, historical/cultural, grand entry, rising force, etc. Amazement / Heroism / Illumination / Uprising. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 150 BPM]
A sneaky and subtly pensive background / underscore track, suitable for mystery, discovery, exploration and for history / documentary etc. This is music that you don't really 'notice' as it doesn't stand out or grab the attention. It just stays in the background and provides a creepy, uneasy, mysterious atmosphere. Has a sense of dangers lurking nearby. The track is over 6 minutes long with no repetition at all, so it can be played in a loop for a long time without getting too repetitive. Can also be used for crime / criminal police / forensic investigation, puzzle solving etc. [Tempo: Slow / 0 BPM]
A mystery theme in classic style and sound. Performed with an actual live string section, this track has a nerve and a certain evil twist. A sense of intrigue and a delicious darkness. [Tempo: Medium / 141 BPM]
A fast, dramatic and powerful blockbuster music track featuring an aggressive string section, large brass ensemble and loud, epic mixed choir. Very epic and awe inspiring music. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 80 BPM]
An intense sequence of pulsating rhythms that indicate action and risk. Electronic / Undercover / Technology Music. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with marching snares, military march. Occasional big drum strikes. Useful as music for scenes of war, war preparation, battle preparations, etc. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with marching snares, military march. Occasional big drum strikes. Useful as music for scenes of war, war preparation, battle preparations, etc. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 0 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with marching snares, military march. Occasional big drum strikes. Useful as music for scenes of war, war preparation, battle preparations, etc. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with marching snares, military march. Occasional big drum strikes. Useful as music for scenes of war, war preparation, battle preparations, etc. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
A Percussion Only track, with marching snares, military march. Occasional big drum strikes. Useful as music for scenes of war, war preparation, battle preparations, etc. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 100 BPM]
An ominous, dramatic and tension building music track featuring hybrid orchestra, combined with classical orchetra and deep synths. Growing into big, epic trailer music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 80 BPM]
A big, epic music track featuring symphonic orchestra with large percussiona and brass ensemble, and mixed choir. Powerful, big and intense trailer mood. Futuristic / Apocalypse / Super Hero Music. [Tempo: Slow / 80 BPM]
Inspired by 1980's sci-fi and horror films, revived today by TV series about things that are strange. An ominous blend of synthesizers and orchestral tones, with a repetitive, tense motif. Tension / Suspense / Dark Music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 84 BPM]
Electronica infused orchestral music. Synth low pulse drives the music with anticipation, joined by low drones and epic percussion. Good music for war preparation, rendezvous scenes, crime investigation, video games and more. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 110 BPM]
Inspired by 1980's sci-fi and horror films revived today by things that are strange. An ominous blend of synthesizers and orchestral tones, with a repetitive tense motif. Cinematic / Thriller / Retro Music. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 86 BPM]
An eerie or slightly dark suspenseful track made with chamber orchestra. Simple structure, evolving. Suspense / Cinematic / Classical. [Tempo: Medium / 120 BPM]
A pulsating, drama building music track, featuring lead synth, ambience synths, and epic orchestra. Powerfully rising into a big, epic track, featuring full orchestra combined with hybrid sounds, and and large percussion ensemble. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 125 BPM]
Beginning with a lone melancholy piano motif, this eventually gives way to a driving epic supporting string and percussion ostinati leading to a thrilling climax. [Tempo: Slow, Medium, Fast / 95 BPM]
A very dark and dramatic music, starting as a suspense build-up for an epic sounding main section, which consists of a classic symphonic orchestra with large percussive elements and metal impacts. Powerful / Tense / Dangerous. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 85 BPM]
A powerful, intense music track featuring a blend of epic orchestra and pulsating synths in bass and lead section. Tension / Brooding / Ominous / Fight music. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 95 BPM]
Action-oriented hybrid orchestral music track, with an ostinato theme backed by percussion and horns. Anticipation and power, with a curious and scientific vibe inspired by space exploration and somewhat tense science. Dramatic / Action / Tension Music. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 112 BPM]
Tense and pulsating orchestral atmosphere growing in intensity to big finish. Evolving / Majestic / Soaring music track. [Tempo: Medium / 224 BPM]
Industrial and pounding sound design with action beats. Edgy / Powerful / Mechanical Music. [Tempo: Medium, Fast / 100 BPM]
A ghoulish groove shrouded in mystery, atmospheric and forward moving. Ideal music for scenes in the sci-fi, horror or mystery genres. [Tempo: Slow, Medium / 104 BPM]
A dark and suspenseful trailer style music track, starting as a quiet, dramatic piece, that later erupts into a tense, ominous blockbuster track. Suspense / Tension / Ominous / Dark. [Tempo: Slow / 140 BPM]
Calm intro section into Powerful and edgy, massive electro track. Power / Sci-fi / Future. [Tempo: Slow, Fast / 135 BPM]