TORONTO - Although they've come out the other side of their own Extreme Makeover: The Dears Edition, Montreal rock group The Dears are still well armed with well-crafted rock tunes.

And Thursday night at The Music Gallery, the group led by vocalist/guitarist Murray Lightburn and keyboardist/vocalist (and wife) Natalia Yanchak aimed their musical missiles from the forthcoming studio album Missiles squarely on the appreciative crowd.

The group has endured a salvo or two themselves after revamping the band with five new musicians after touring behind 2006's Gang Of Losers. Added to that, Missiles leaked online roughly five weeks before its scheduled Oct. 21 release date.

Fortunately for all parties concerned, the cache of strong songs hasn't diminished judging by how well nearly all of them came across commencing with Disclaimer, a very solid effort (without the horns found on the album version) with the pleasant Lightburn, his black leather jacket zipped up and fists raised, setting the tone for the roughly 80-minute set.

With the church pews pushed to either side of the floor and the group performing on the altar, it seemed a perfect setting to reveal the new material as the new quintet behind Lightburn and Yanchak - Jason Kent, Lisa Smith, Yann Geoffroy, Laura Wills and Christopher McCarron - slowly settled into the performance.

Such a drastic turnover could've meant The Dears being a bit shambolic in concert, but the atmospheric Money Babies dismissed those notions rather quickly. From there Berlin Heart featured the signature emotional vibe and dramatic flair the band has honed over its four albums.

Perhaps the biggest difference with this new version of The Dears is that they're a bit more adventurous. This was especially evident on a handful of songs beginning with Crisis 1 & 2, the first half basically being Yanchak's time to shine for the first half which sounded a tad like British group Keane while the latter half was a rowdier, guitar-driven foot-stomper Lightburn seized control of.

Yet the real musical journey came in the form of Lights Off, a very intricate number that veered from adorable Brit-pop a la Pulp to begin into country and then into classic '70s hard rock as Lightburn briefly played the role as musical conductor as Geoffroy and Smith looked on.

"How you all doing?" Lightburn shouted before acknowledging the venue's aura. "We're in a church, we're trying to be all sacred and s---."

While drawing heavily from Missiles, The Dears ensured they touched on some older favourites such as Lost In The Plot and 22: The Death Of All Romance, both from 2003's No Cities Left.

Also not forgotten was the powerful Bandwagoneers and the shuffling, punchy Whites Only Party, both of which had their desired effect.

The Dears returned for the encore with Meltdown In A Major, but if this early performance of the new unit is any indication, The Dears are far from meltdown mode musically.