You know what’s cool? Those music games with the drums that you can bang on like you’re Animal from The Muppets. What’s uncool is when you go berserk and the silly, plastic kick pedal snaps in the middle of an epic drum solo, then you have to get on the phone to call an ambulance. It happens, and Nyko is fed up.

The Metal Pedal from Nyko features some nice improvements over the standard Rock Band and Guitar Hero pedals. First off, it’s bigger both in length and width (that’s what she said), giving you a better base that feels more like a real kick and less like a toy. This is further complemented by a slightly stiffer spring action.

If you’ve experienced problems with other pedals in the past, such as busted hinges or cracked plates, you’ll be happy to know Nyko has stepped up the game. The plate is metal reinforced — featuring a skeleton because it’s so metal — so you won’t have plastic splinters killing you in the face and the hinges reflect the name as well. Overall, it’s a solid peripheral that actually feels welcome and useful, rather than being just another piece of something to waste money on.

The Metal Pedal is compatible with Rock Band 1 & 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour on all consoles. It also comes with a splitter that allows two pedals to be hooked up at the same time so you can really pretend to be like Metallca’s Lars Ulrich during the recording of “…And Justice For All.”

Nyko expects to have this in stores this month, retailing for $19.99.