Royalty Free Horror Music

A heart-pounding orchestral suspense builder featuring dark wind instruments, whispers and a piano climax

A fast paced, characterful orchestral string ensemble piece. Lots of interwoven rhythmic play, as the intricacy of the string parts dominates the overall stuttered and tense mood. Gritty and nervous for the majority, with a calming middle section that rebuilds to the original skittish theme, the use of dissonance, changing tempo and off-beat accents highlights the intended drama and suspense, making this perfect for thriller, noir and horror genres.

Tense orchestral hybrid track. Male and female choir chanting, cinematic percussion and deep synth textures marry with a full range of orchestral techniques and dynamics for an epic, jagged piece that is action packed, unsettling and dramatic. Dark and gothic due to the choral elements, it captures an energetic and panicked spirit with a sense of struggle and fight.

Gritty atmospheric track. More soundscape than melody, it marries acoustic and synth sounds for a hybrid track reflecting tension, intrigue and dark suspense. Starting with a raw, biting cello and metronomic percussion, tension is introduced through high strings, background chorals and synth textures to create an unsettling, eerie vibe, eventually breaking into a fuller beat without letting up on the chills. Mean and moody.

Spooky, skeletal track with a captivating atmosphere. Stripped to the bare bones, it's quite minimal, but uses the space to great effect, allowing the darkness to weave through the gaps. All the creepiest instruments are there: music box, glockenspiel, echoing percussion ... all leading and accompanying the playful strings, ghostly piano, lurking bassoon and carnival accordion for an unnerving experience of delicate, haunting beauty. Chills.

Soothing but mysterious orchestral track. Arpeggiated piano and strings start classically, but a theremin lead takes things to an unexpected level of mystical contrast. Elegance and majesty is constant due to the warm orchestration throughout, with a deliberate unease and suspense created by the unusual instrumentation and melodies.  

Enchanting orchestral epic. Magical and mysterious in its gently flowing piano lines and shimmering high strings, it builds on the theme with faster string ostinato and legato melodies, gradually turning into a deeper, more epic interpretation with added brass, woodwind and percussion. Without limiting yourself to the fantasy genre as it works for many other situations, think more 'fairies and elves showing their powers' than 'horsemen of the apocalypse'.

Epic fantasy orchestral track. Brass fanfares, repeated by the strings and enhanced by the choir and percussion, form the main theme of this dramatic action piece. Respite comes in the middle section with a calm, simple piano sequence backed by soft string chords that soon builds to the original fanfare and return of the familiar intensity of the first half. Tension, danger and doom aplenty in a confrontational and menacing work.

Mysterious and tense hybrid track. With fantasy elements and gothic overtones from the use of sparkling glockenspiel and operatic vocals, the piece marries various moods whilst always suggesting an impending danger and wonder. Running synth phrases, electric guitar stabs and shrill legato strings complement the rich and diverse landscape, backed by a strong and steady drum beat. A supernatural and mystical revelation.

It all depends on how you're feeling. On the one hand, this is a deep, soul searching soundscape of profound, inner vibrations - an electronic soup of slowly evolving tones, drones and unresolved mutations that leads you to mysterious places and intriguing discovery, safe in the knowledge that at this pace, you'll have the time to fall into it's myriad hypnotic states. On the other hand, it's the soundtrack to your worst, most isolated horror nightmares and the darkest, creepiest underworld you never want to visit. The choice is yours - it's just a question of context.

Hauntingly tense piano based track. Dark and atmospheric from the start, using a simple repeated piano theme, and enhanced by subtle, dissonant strings and choir to create suspense, the piece remains stable but varied throughout - synth pulses and percussion add movement, cello adds melancholy, glockenspiel adds lightness. The slow pace adds to the dramatic tension so you're left in no doubt that something must be lurking nearby.  

A short, spooky horror theme with a vintage, lo-fi feel to evoke those darkest of unwanted memories from times best forgotten. Hollow and brittle, but hypnotically repetitive, there are small subtleties to lift it - detuned instruments, dropouts, jagged string stabs and pizzicato - with a near constant deep brooding bass to rumble your bones. An edgy and mysterious, fast moving track that works great as a tension builder or scene setter.

An uncomplicated yet profound piece of meditational soundscape that's equally at home as a thought-provoking, new age track as it is the background to a disturbing psychological scene, such is the potential for intrigue and tension in such a minimalist, dark electronic piece. The 285 Hz frequency targets your energy field and supposedly helps in the fast healing of burns, fractures, sprains and cuts - somewhat ironic if it ends up in the soundtrack to a psycho-gore flick.

Electronic horror-themed track with arpeggiated keyboard, underlying light trap beat and synth pulses

Atmospheric hybrid track with a psychological edge. Making good use of cutting synth and string themes for suspense, and a deep, pulsing beat for tension and movement, there remains space for a piano melody to add progressive interest with a deliberately vague and ambiguous feel. An overall steady and tense piece that creates a mysterious, thrilling landscape.

Dark and suspenseful ambient track with piano and electronic elements

Rhythmic soundscape, built on synth pads, arpeggiated leads and warped textures. 16th note delay creates constant movement. Overall, a slightly eerie, brooding atmosphere.

Orchestral track on a voyage of discovery, where the unexpected could be lurking around each corner. String ostinato keeps up the momentum while meandering and tense melodies from violins and choir search out a path to follow. Brass swells and rich horn and trombone lines add gravitas to an already dark and brooding atmosphere, forming a track that is steady paced but never really settled. Intriguing.

High energy horror with a powerful Hollywood sound. An edgy orchestral track featuring manic, fast paced violins and brass stabs, complemented by whirling woodwinds. Unsettling in its build up, it cuts to a pause in order to regenerate the mood once again with the nervous strings, adding a stronger, disorienting off-beat feel. Lots of foreboding tension, especially helped by a constant military snare, and an overall sinister mood make this perfect for dramatic action scenes with a darker ambience.

Orchestral (hybrid) track, featuring piano, strings, brass and FX. A lulling, yet dissonant piano theme takes centre stage, accompanied by legato violins and various chilling percussive effects to a sharp climax, before returning to the more sedate, yet unsettling motif. Edgy and intense, with an unresolved ending.