TORONTO -- If I were 16 years old, Evanescence would be my band. The Arkansas group is heavy, haunting and led by raven-haired gothic cutie Amy Lee. Since I love Marilyn Manson, I should dig Evanescence.

But watching the band play a packed Molson Amphitheatre on Sunday night, it felt like all style, no substance. Evanescence's success is also a curse: Their debut album Fallen spawned four smash singles, including the crossover hit Bring Me To Life. They've rushed rapidly to arena-sized venues, but with only one disc to draw from, the young band has to play all its tunes, good and not-so-good. Even then, it only amounted to an hour of music.

From the first note, Lee stole the show. Dressed in a white frilly skirt, black combat boots and tank top with stripey armbands, she looked like the offspring of Cyndi Lauper and Siouxie Sioux, or perhaps even Madonna, part Like A Virgin, part Frozen.

Full of energy, Lee jumped and twirled about a stage decorated with chain curtains and metal hooks, flicking her long hair around and smiling sweetly. It's too bad you couldn't hear a word she sang.

Evanescence has a highly processed, spooky metal sound, a difficult thing to mix live. It thus came through like a distorted, synthesized mush, with Lee's vocals suffering most. None of the young crowd seemed to care: Since Fallen has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, they already know every word to hits like Going Under, Everybody's Fool and My Immortal.

Even when Lee played ballads on a black grand piano, she had the same "ether to a scream" vocals. Even the quiet tunes kicked in to blasting guitar rock, a bit of piano plunking on top.

And it's too bad Lee, speaking little, didn't make up for it with charm. In just 50 minutes, the band was encoring with a Smashing Pumpkins cover while a good chunk of the audience fled. Evanescence is Lee, so her shortcomings were deeply felt. Since the departure of guitarist Ben Moody, the band's co-founder and main songwriter, it's unclear what the future holds for the band. Certainly, the musicians backing Lee at the Amphitheatre were anonymous.

Still, Evanescence's romantic, feminine stylings are a welcome break from the macho metal and puerile punk fed to kids this decade. (As exemplified by faux punk openers Three Days Grace, who admit writing songs about "being stuck at home with nothing to do.") If they make it back, hopefully they'll sound as good as they look.

JAM! Rating: 3.5 out of 5