A far-reaching Mars Volta

It took seven years for singer Cedric Bixler Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez to process the self-destructive life and ultimate suicide of a close friend into art, but they did so in remarkable fashion with “De-loused in the Comatorium,” the new debut album from their band the Mars Volta. The Rick Rubin-produced record is a complex, ambitious portrayal of a nightmarish world between life and death, as far-reaching, fully realized and distinctive an effort as anything in recent rock.

They’ve had little more than a month, though, to ponder the drug-related death of Mars Volta member Jeremy Ward. And while that loss was explicitly referred to only once during the band’s first appearance since Ward’s death, Tuesday at the Henry Fonda Theatre, the rawness of the recent experience seemed to course through the musically commanding and emotionally moving performance.

The Mars Volta played the album from start to finish, a daring, difficult presentation that moved well beyond the impressive level of At the Drive-In, the heralded band that Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez previously fronted.

“Comatorium” is a nonlinear, abstract story of internal confusion and conflict in the tradition of Genesis’ “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,” with sudden, radical turns evoking King Crimson, Santana, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, among many others. Allusions to Brian Eno, Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera and David Bowie (with Zavala quoting the cautionary drug tale “Ashes to Ashes” at one point) also graced the music live.

More appropriate than a list of musical reference points, however, is a catalog of the shifting feelings and moods in the music: manic, mournful, impatient, distracted, intense, soaring, questioning, suffocating, illuminating. The live rendition did little to elaborate the specifics of the tale but added emotional shades and made the experience even more involving and rewarding.

Zavala has grown into a top-flight singer, reaching at times into Robert Plant territory Tuesday, while Rodriguez-Lopez has channeled such influences as Robert Fripp, Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin into a stunningly original amalgam. Keyboardist Ikey Owens added distinctive color, while the dynamic rhythm section of drummer Jon Theodore and bassist Juan Aldrette was dazzlingly dexterous. Temporarily taking over Ward’s role as “sound manipulator,” Paul Hinojos (bassist in At the Drive-In and now Sparta) added electronic effects rooted in dub reggae but taken to new ground.

It appeared that at least half of the hometown fans were already intimately acquainted with the demanding music, even though the album’s only been out a week. This is not neatly packaged, hummable tunes and catchphrase lyrics.

After the show, both Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez expressed release and relief. Zavala said that beforehand he had felt the late Ward’s strong presence and that he had found himself tearing up during the spoken-word opening set by Saul Williams. Rodriguez-Lopez added that he felt “tangled” in internal conflicts and the external pressures of the night, but also was able to let go before taking the stage.

Said the guitarist, “It was like some sort of exorcism.”