When it comes to neo-punk purveyors of hard rock, Faith No More may not be the first band to come to mind.

But judging by the band's triumphant return to Toronto Monday night at The Warehouse, counting them out would not only be unfair, but unwise.

Faith No More's North American poularity waned considerably after their 1989 smash The Real Thing, and 1992's Angel Dust hit it big only in Europe.

Since then, Faith No More parted with one-time guitar demi-god Jim Martin and went ballistic with the new platter King For A Day/Fool For A Lifetime.

Monday's show moved in tandem with FNM's ability to fuse furious punk-funk metal with schmaltziness of the post-apocalyptic kind.

Ripping into the set with Ricochet, the heavy hits of drummer Mike Bordin cleared the way for singer Mike Patton, who immediately underwent a catharsis that would last the night.

Patton's the sort of frontman who gives metal crooning a good name. No surprise, he belted tunes like Get Out and the blazing Digging The Grave with a mix of operatic conviction and sweaty athleticism, all the while pacing in circles as if squaring off for a brawl.

Having done away with the guitar virtuosity of Martin, FNM's prog-metal take on hardcore was fueled instead by new axeman Dean Menta, known outside the group for scoring such CD ROM games as Loadstar.

Founding keyboardist Roddy Bottom's high-end drones ironed out Patton's war cries and the rumbling polyrhythms of Bordin and bassist Billy Gould.

FNM also shifted easily into weird Casio-disco jingles like Evidence, Just A Man and Caralho Voador, not unlike incidental music from an old French art film.

Erstwhile lounge lizard Patton was not too shy to then lead the group into a searing rendition of their turn of the decade hit, Epic.

It was a fragmented set that might have left much of the packed Warehouse hanging.

But while such genre-bending could have stalled a lesser group of musicians, FMN were just the sort of juggernaut to pull it off.

SUN RATING: 4 OUT OF 5