TORONTO - While it was two months in the waiting, Sum 41 made sure fans got their money's worth by putting their guitar pedals to the evolving metal side of their sound.

The Ajax darlings, touring in support of their latest album Chuck, postponed two Toronto shows in early February after lead singer Deryck Whibley ruptured a vocal chord. Yet, for the group's roughly 90-minute show before a sold-out teen dominated crowd Thursday night at The Docks, Whibley's pipes generally stood up to the frenetic pace.

Opening with The Hell Song from 2002's Does This Look Infected?, Sum 41 flew through the early numbers with little between-song banter. My Direction and Over My Head (Better Off Dead) had guitarist Dave Baksh and bassist Cone McCaslin pacing the stage while Whibley occasionally slapped himself in the head. "Welcome to the first night of this tour," Whibley told the crowd. "They say the first is the worst, but not tonight. This is my town. This is my night."

With no props or visuals, the band churned out some punk-oriented hits -- such as Nothing On My Back -- but got a bigger response for the newer material, beginning with We're All To Blame and continuing later on with the heavier, Metallica-ish 88. Through it all, drummer Steve Jocz's playing was as tight as the kit he was pounding on.

Whibley, who even played guitar with his teeth, was often overpowered by the crowd singing along. But the biggest problem he had was with his mic stand, which routinely fell over.

The best example of this was during the ballad-leaning Pieces. As Whibley finished the last verse, the stand fell towards him, causing the mic to hit him in the mouth. "It's all right, I didn't need that tooth anyway," he quipped after initially dropping to the stage.

A few of the new songs missed the mark, especially the Avril Lavigne-like Some Say and There's No Solution. Both didn't pack much punch for the crowd compared to No Brains, Still Waiting and Motivation. But these low points were the exception to the otherwise raucous riffs that often fell in line with metal legends like Judas Priest.

The surprise of the evening was after the group finished the rapid fire punk tune Machine Gun. Mentioning Elvis Presley, Whibley returned wearing large sunglasses, a towel around his neck and perfecting poor karate moves as the group played Presley's well-known intro and exit music. He also did a snippet of Presley's That's All Right Mama.

The group hit the homestretch with a mix of new and old, including Welcome To Hell and Makes No Difference from its debut , which Whibley dedicated to the "old-school fans."

The band rounded out the night with an encore set. And judging by Thursday's gig, there's no reason to shun them when they return in August supporting an aging motley crew named, er, Motley Crue.